


Teddy Lupin and the Fifth Tower

by Drakey



Series: Luke Restimen and The Cruelty of Fate [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: America, Awkwardness, Dueling, Fourth Year Was Just Inevitably Going to be About Sports, HP: Epilogue Compliant, Holy crap there's lots of original characters, Homosexuality, Horcrux Malfunction, I am mean to my characters, Mentions of Rape, My characters are miserable people, Original Character(s), Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Pen Pals, Sorry. I just really wanted to use that last tag, Teddy Should Probably Shut Up, Wizards on a Plane, meteorites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-31 04:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 63,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Restimen's fourth year at Hogwarts begins with exciting news: there's going to be a dueling tournament! But there are strange rumors about the hosting school, and Teddy is determined to get to the bottom of them.</p><p>Intrigue, strife, and adolescent quasi-romance abounds, plus special guest, Wizards Trying To Figure Out Muggle Transportation!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ruining Teddy's Fun

**Author's Note:**

> Well... here we go. in theory, I'm actually capable of five thousand words a day. I could have this done in ten days.As i do not hate myself, i won't be doing that, but my NaNos tend to go by like a jackrabbit on meth, so you should probably buckle up and enjoy the ride.

He entered the bar. Albania had been kind enough to him. The weather agreed with his constitution, and he was quite fond of the food. There was a woman sitting at a table just inside the door, and she smiled at him. He scowled, and she flinched back.

He wasn't going to let some muggle woman give him eyes like that. The bartender smiled at him as well, but when he sat down, the man's face fell. He didn't particularly care. He ordered a shot of whiskey. It was pushed over the bar to him, and he looked into the bartender's eyes as he drank it. 

"What happened to your eyes?" the man asked.

"I happened to them," he answered.

"But... they're red."

"Yes, they are. I wouldn't comment on it again if I were you."

He drank three more shots, and because the whiskey was good, he didn't burn the building to the ground when he left.

+----+

"Luke!"

Luke Restimen dragged his eyes open. He was definitely not in the same position he had been when he fell asleep. Teddy Lupin, who was, legally, his nephew, had just taken a flying jump onto Luke's bed. He was cheerfully flopping Luke around as much as he could by jumping alone.

"Luke, wake up!" Teddy said. He sat up, abruptly.

"What time is it?" Luke asked irritably. 

"Nearly noon," Teddy replied. 

"He was dreaming about a bar in Albania," Luke said. He stuffed his face back into his pillow. "I hate it when he dreams about being drunk. It's like I've been drinking, and then I wake up, and it's disappointing."

Teddy sighed and dropped a hand onto Luke's back. "I'm sorry."

"He didn't burn down the bar, even though it was run by a muggle. He thought the whiskey was good."

Teddy flopped over onto his back. "Luke," he began, but of course, there was nothing he could say.

"I know," Luke said. He rolled over, still holding his pillow against his face. "Are you ready?" he asked, though he knew it was going to come out muffled and indistinct. 

"Yeah," Teddy said. "I've just got to get showered, and into proper clothes, and maybe have breakfast."

"Totally ready," Luke grumbled, rolling out of bed. He looked over at Teddy. "Knock it off," Luke said. Teddy had sprouted a truly ponderous set of breasts. His hair had gone bright, flourescent blue, but that was a secondary concern to the breasts.

"But they're boobies, Luke!"

"Teddy, stop growing breasts!" Andromeda called from downstairs. 

"You're ruining my fun," Teddy said conversationally.

Luke shrugged and made his way to the shower.

The last few months had been strange. Recovering from a fourteen-round knockdown-dragout with alcoholism, being adopted into a new family, adjusting to half of his friends no longer wanting to have anything to do with him, and getting used to the occasional visit from Victoire Weasley... "Take your pick," Luke muttered as he started up the shower. "It's all weird."

The alcoholism was probably the worst thing. He'd been pretty thoroughly addicted, and he recognized it, but it was still hard to do something about it. It took a kind of willpower Luke still wasn't entirely sure he had. Just a couple of weeks ago, he'd put himself to sleep with whiskey again. It wasn't exactly healthy behavior for anyone, let alone a fourteen-year-old boy. 

Luke hated the way he looked lately. His brown hair hung lank from his head at basically all times, and he was the only boy his age that he knew of with dark circles under his eyes. If he hadn't been involuntarily and unpleasantly famous, people probably would have assumed that he was a werewolf. The long scar across his forehead stuck out in stark contrast, too, and he hated that. It reminded him of his father's death, which had, needless to say, been unpleasant for him.

Still, life wasn't all bad. The first month of Luke's summer vacation had been all filling out forms and talking to counselors, but the culmination of that effort was his legal adoption by Andromeda Tonks. Legally, Luke was Teddy's uncle, and, incidentally, a distant (or not-so-distant) cousin to half of the powerful figures in Wizarding England.

Effectively, the adoption meant that Luke was Teddy's brother. Teddy alternated between calling him brother and calling him, irritatingly, "unca Luke." Luke would have been more annoyed by this, but he enjoyed the idea of having a brother, and Teddy was exactly the brother he would have chosen if he could, strange teasing and all. 

His friends' leaving was mostly Luke's fault. He hadn't exactly been pleasant to be around while he was trying to see if all rum bottles had the same bottom. Luke acknowledged that. It still hurt that Violet hadn't spoken to him or Teddy at all since she broke up with Teddy, and that Mark hadn't even mentioned that he had moved on with Aaron Roulers. It felt like it was always going to hurt. 

Victoire, at least, was something he could enjoy without reservation. Teddy was pretty ovbviously a little smitten with her--not that the metamorphmagus would ever, ever, in a million years admit to it--and she was pleasant enough to have around that Luke thought she might almost be a viable replacement for Violet. Not that Luke was ever going to say that to Teddy. Violet was still a sore subject with his brother. 

His brother.

Luke liked that phrase.

Luke cleaned off, and brushed his teeth, and thought about how irritating he would find the need to shave when it came around, and got dressed, and when he came down to the living room, Teddy was waiting for him. He'd gotten rid of the breasts, but he was looking quite feminine anyways, complete with bubblegum-pink hair down to the middle of his back.

Luke raised an eyebrow. Teddy shrugged. "Felt like being a little girly today."

Andromeda came in and made a face at Teddy. "Less hair, dear."

Teddys hair retracted to about shoulder-length, and his face adjusted its shape to fit the new appearance better. "That work?"

Andromeda nodded. She hugged Luke. "Good morning, Luke. Are you doing all right today?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "Let's go do our shopping."

+----+

They found Professor Shelly, the Defense against the Dark Arts professor, in Flourish and Blott's, browsing through the titles on the shelves. "Hello, Professor," Luke greeted her. 

Professor Shelly turned to look at him. She was wearing reading glasses, perched on her beaky nose, which surprised Luke. He wasn't going to say anything, but Teddy blurted,   
"You got glasses, Professor Shelly! They look just like Gran's, too!"

Professor Shelly's familiar friendly smile became a little forced. "Hello, Luke, Teddy."

"Sorry about Teddy," Luke said. He peered at the title of the book Professor Shelly had just pulled off of the shelf. Something about coaching an effective team, but he couldn't get a clear look at it before she dropped her hand to her side. "He's a bit of a social disaster."

Professor Shelly smiled. "That's all right, he's a pleasant enough social disaster. How are you, Luke? You look like you haven't been getting enough sleep lately."

"I'm fine," Luke lied. "Getting books of your own?"

"Yeah," Professor Shelly replied. "There's going to be some exciting opportunities in Dueling Club this year. You might get to see some cool things."

"How cool?" Luke asked.

"You might get to do some traveling," Professor Shelly said. "Visit other schools."

"We're doing a tournament?"

"I'm working on it," Professor Shelly said. "Hogwarts hasn't participated in more than a century, but we stand to gain a lot of prestige."

Luke grinned. "Where would we be going?"

"Rockhouse," Professor Shelly said. "Well, the Rockhouse Magical Academy of North America, if you want to get technical. They're hosting the International Academic Dueling Competition this year."

"I've never heard of Rockhouse," Teddy said.

"It's sort of nestled in between Canada and the United States, on Lake Superior," Professor Shelly explained. "It's supposed to be one of the most unique schools of magic in the world."

"It's on the lake?" Teddy said.

"On it, or in it," Professor Shelly said. "I don't know for sure. I never visited it when I was in America. Their students visited Rainpath sometimes."

"What were they like, the students from Rockhouse?" Teddy wanted to know.

"They weren't really like anything. They were just students, like any others. Maybe a bit more northern, so their accents weren't the same."

Luke would have stayed and asked her questions endlessly, but Andromeda came to pull him and Teddy along, getting more books. Professor Leiman--Luke's favorite teacher--had included a book on poisons. The store's owner cautioned him to be careful with the book, since the pages were made out of pressed hemlock. 

Luke had to roll his eyes at that.

After they had their books, the little party went down to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, where Teddy ate a bowl of mint chocolate frog ice cream and Luke tried to ignore it while concentrating on his butter pecan. 

Victoire came flouncing up to them with her parents in tow, and Teddy immediately turned a little pink. He noticed Luke grinning at him and darkened his skin tone to hide his blush. "You're way older than she is," Luke teased.

"Shut up," Teddy suggested.

"Why should Luke shut up?" Victoire asked. "Not that it's a bad idea, him being a boy and boys being better for keeping around to lift things than for conversation, but why this time?"

"Oh, no," Luke said. "Teddy was just reminding himself what to do."

"Shut up," Teddy repeated.

"Nice to see you again, Teddy," Bill, Victoire's father, said. Victoire was settling in next to Teddy as though she belonged there. Her mother, a shockingly beautiful woman with hair even blonder than Victoire, sat down next to her husband. She spoke with a light French accent. 

"Hello, Luke. And Teddy, I hope you're well."

Teddy looked up from Victoire and gave Bill Weasley a cheerful smile. "I'm great."

"He thinks he's great," Victoire said. "Really, he's just pretty okay."

Luke snorted back a laugh. "I always thought he was mediocre."

Teddy's hair turned an unpleasant puce color. "You're both terrible," he said.

Victoire grabbed Teddy's spoon, took a bite of his ice cream, and handed it back to him. "We're only joking with you."

"You're being mean."

"You should probably take it easy," Bill pointed out.

"Sorry, Teddy," Luke said. 

Teddy's hair immediately brightened to its former pink. "As long as you remember that I'm the greatest."

That got a laugh out of everyone, and the whole lot of them headed off to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, where they hung out and shopped and generally had fun. George, the proprieter, had hired a new assistant. From the red hair and preponderance of freckles, he was probably another Weasley, an impression reinforced when Bill greeted him with a loud "Ickle Ronniekins!"

"Oh no," the new assistant said as Bill embraced him.

"Luke!" George exclaimed. "You haven't met my brother Ron yet! It's his third day here! He's getting initiated. Ron, this is--"

"Luke Restimen," Ron said. "I know. Harry's mentioned him a few times."

"Wait," Luke said. "You're on Chocolate Frog cards."

"You collect them?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "I've got a full Order of the Phoenix set."

"Wow, really?" Ron enthused. "I still haven't got a Remus Lupin. You'd think they'd have given me a full set for being on the cards, but it didn't really work out like that."

"Yeah, my boyfriend gave me the set for Christmas a couple of years ago." Luke frowned, remembering.

"Wish Hermione would give me gifts like that," Ron said.

"Well, he broke up with me, too, so..."

There was an awkward silence.


	2. Where's Hagrid?

Teddy, apparently thinking that awkward silences were unacceptable, strode confidently to a rack of masks and picked one off of it. He squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating, and his face turned into a very good likeness of Luke, then he put the mask, which looked like Luke's face, onto the back of his head. He walked backwards up to Andromeda.

"Hello, Andromeda!" he greeted her cheerfully, as though he hadn't seen her all day. "Have you seen Teddy about? It's three thirty, so it's about time for me to tell him how great he is."

+----+

When Luke got back to the house with Andromeda and Teddy, Fortinbras, his cat, immediately came over to rub his face all over Luke's shins. Luke picked him up and perched him on his shoulders. "Hello, Fort," he said. 

Teddy hurried off to go and get his things put into his trunk for school right away. Luke followed him, muttering about how he was being "extremely Ravenclaw" without actually objecting to Teddy's Ravenclawing. 

"Can you believe it?" Teddy gushed while he packed textbooks and school supplies into his trunk. "A tournament! We get to go to America! Do you think we'll see the Great Canyon?"

"Grand Canyon," Luke corrected, "and I doubt it. I think that's in the south, and it sounds like Rockhouse is way in the north. Besides, Professor Shelly said we might get to go, not that we certainly would. Even if it's possible, I bet we'd have to qualify. I'm sure she's only take the best duelists, and we're not even in a very high year. I mean, neither of us can even be considered for a prefect yet."

"If I'm a prefect, George Weasley will have my head."

"If I'm a prefect, the world might end," Luke said. "On the other hand," he pointed at his head, "Riddle was a prefect."

"It's creepy when you do that," Teddy said. "I mean, I know it'd be stupid to pretend you're not carrying around a piece of his soul, but do you have to talk about it so casually all the time? It's... weird. That's why Harry got so paranoid about you."

Luke sighed, sat down on the edge of Teddy's bed, and flopped back onto it. "I think it might make the dreams better. I mean, he's sort of... well, no, he is a part of me. Like, he absolutely is. There's really not a boundary. I remember things he did, and they're terrible, and the thing is that I remember doing them. They don't feel like someone else's memories."

Teddy was staring at Luke now. It was very rare for Luke to talk about what had happened to him, but that was definitely the direction the conversation was going. Luke took a deep breath and plunged into the topic he liked to discuss the least.

"I don't get the... the sense that there's someone else in my head. Not ever. He's not separate, like he used to be."

Teddy had reverted to his normal, red-haired appearance. His chin was getting pointier as he got older, Luke thought abstractedly. On any boy but Teddy, it might have been cute. He made a face at that thought. "So you think you're the same person as he is now?" He stuffed his potions book into the bag, which immediately spat it back out and started grumbling suspiciously about poisons.

Luke shrugged. "I've had a while to think about it. I think that maybe Riddle and I are both a new, different person. You know, I'm not as happy-go-lucky as i used to be, and he's a lot less... killy-go-murdery."

Teddy snorted. "You're Luke Restimen. You'll always be Luke Restimen." His hair turned seafoam green and he sprouted a pert set of breasts. "Even if you have got a Tonks in there somewhere."

Luke sighed. Fortinbras pawed at his chest for a bit, then lost interest and wandered off. "Fine," Luke said in mock anger. "Go torture a mouse. Or do something else agressively feline. Meow! Drink some cream out of a fussy little saucer!"

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "You banter at that cat almost as much as at me."

"Well, I've got to have someone around who talks back less than you, and Marissa's on vacation."

"She's coming back in a couple of days," Teddy said of their mutual friend. "You could go to her as soon as she gets back." Luke opened his mouth to protest, but Teddy clearly hadn't forgotten the teasing earlier in the day, and he was already warming to the material he'd been given to work with. "Wait for her on her front steps, run to her across the front lawn when she gets back, hire someone to play music for your passionate reunion..."

Luke rolled his eyes. He and Marissa were definitely, definitely, with absolute certainty, never going to date, ever, not even if they were forced at wandpoint. 

He was still very much looking forward to seeing her, though.

+----+

He didn't get to see her again until it was time to get on the Hogwarts Express. Platform nine and three quarters was packed. The aurors that had accompanied the train the previous year were there again, out in full force. Luke spotted Harry Potter, and a sudden upwelling of trepidation gripped him. He wrenched his gaze away from Potter and skipped it around the platform until he found the unmistakable platinum blonde hair of Marissa Jones. "Marissa!" Luke yelled, and she turned, away from her mother, smiling as she caught sight of him. 

Marissa waved to her mother, saying something over her shoulder. Andromeda laughed as Marissa came hurtling towards Luke, wrapping him up in her arms. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too," Luke said. He found himself turning very pink when she kissed him on the cheek.

Andromeda handed Fortinbras off to Luke. "There. Can't have him away from you," she said.

Fortinbras mewed and thrust his head curiously at Marissa. She petted him absentmindedly while Teddy dragged their trunks off the trolley. Luke hefted Fortinbras up onto Marissa's shoulders, and she let out a sharp objection but didn't push the cat away. The three of them brought their things into the Hogwarts Express, making sure to get hugs from Andromeda and from Gwendolyn, Marissa's mother. A few minutes later, Victoire came in and sat down imperiously next to Teddy.

"Hello, Fortinbras," Victoire said. She picked up the cat and played with him for the entire rest of the train ride. 

Teddy got out a game board, and they fell into the familiar rhythm of playing to pass the time.

"We still need a Hufflepuff for the League," Teddy said after the snack cart had come around. They had put their game aside in favor of food, and Luke was looking out the window, watching the countryside roll by. They were going through a cloudy area.

"Oh, come on, Teddy," Marissa said. "That sounds as though you're collecting students."

Luke grinned. "I can see it now. Grandpa Teddy breaks out the collection every Christmas." He opened up an imaginary album on his lap and started pointing things out in it, affecting a withered old man's voice. "Oh, there's the Ravenclaw know-it-all, those aren't hard to find. And there's the pure-blood Hufflepuff, only found a few of those. And the Slytherin bully, he's a matched set with the Gryffindor bully."

"Oh, Grandpa Teddy, we've heard about all these before," Victoire drawled, "show us something interesting. Grow breasts again, that's always good for a laugh!"

"Now kids, you know that was an accident," Luke said with laugh.

"I'm serious, though," Teddy said when the laughter had died down. "I mean, we're hardly the League of interhouse Friendship if we're short a Hufflepuff. Then we're sort of... the... I don't know, the Hufflepuff Exclusion Club."

"I could follow the first years down to the lakeside and make really loud Star Wars references," Luke offered. "Whoever responds is more likely to be in Hufflepuff than anywhere else."

"Knowing you, you'd get the other Slytherin Mudblood," Marissa said.

Teddy winced at her use of the word, which was, after all, a pretty grievous insult, but Luke just chuckled. "Got a phantasmal liver transplant from Gellert Grindelwald, doesn't understand why he's been placed in Slytherin."

"We'll find someone," Marissa said. "It's not as though there's a shortage of Hufflepuffs."

+----+

There were no new Hufflepuffs for the four of them to befriend between the Hogwarts Express and the Great Hall. Luke sat down at the Slytherin table and glanced up at the ceiling, watching the dark clouds scudding across the image of the night sky overhead. Once everyone was settled in, Professor Leiman came in.

James Leiman was, without a doubt, Luke's favorite teacher. He wore a pinstriped suit that was always perfectly immaculate, and he kept his salt-and-pepper (mostly salt) hair and beard always perfectly trimmed. He walked with a cane, which Luke knew was actually his wand, and he was so full of old stories and bizarre skills that Luke couldn't help being a little in awe of the man. Professor Leiman also claimed to be an ex-spy for what Luke had the impression was just about every branch of the American military. Luke hadn't been entirely sure whether or not to believe that part until Professor Leiman had effected a spectacular one-man rescue of him from a whole group of hardened criminals at the end of his second year at Hogwarts. Leiman hadn't even bothered with magic; he'd just shot the men who had abducted Luke.

But as much as Leiman was a terror in combat, he was also an excellent teacher. Luke went to Professor Leiman for advice when he was confused, not to his own head of house.  
Of course, that might have had something to do with Luke feeling little more than contempt for Professor Gills, who was exactly the sort of person that made people feel justified in not liking Slytherins based purely on the fact that they were Slytherins.

As Professor Leiman strode confidently up to the front of the Great Hall, a red-haired man with one arm placed an old hat with a singed top on a stool in front of the staff table. Luke elbowed Marissa. "Where's Hagrid?" he hissed.

Marissa's face fell as she scanned the Great Hall for the hulking form of the Hogwarts gamekeeper, but the half-giant was nowhere to be seen.

"I hope he's all right," Luke said.

Professor Leiman stood behind the stool with the Sorting Hat. Before Luke and Marissa could speculate any further, a tear opened up on the brim of the hat and it began to sing its song in a dry, raspy voice.

"I am the only hat you'll meet  
that knows about the way  
you'd like for those you know to greet  
you as you start your day.

"If you will be in Gryffindor,  
you'll want to be called brave,  
for Gryffindors are bold and strong  
when someone must be saved!

"I am the only hat you'll know  
who tells you where to sit,  
but rest assured I know quite well  
just how you ought to fit.

"Perhaps you'll join the Hufflepuffs,  
those loyal folks, and true,  
who never shrink from real work  
that someone has to do!

"I am the only hat to tell,  
the only hat to preach,  
and I'm the only hat you'll see  
that makes such brilliant speech!

"Some will land in Ravenclaw  
and study from a book,  
for cleverness will get you far  
no matter how you look!

"I am the only hat I know  
that's trusted to choose right:  
you put me on, I name your house,  
it's what I do tonight.

"A few will be in Slytherin,   
and what a cunning few,  
ambition rules the heads of those  
who Slytherin would choose!

"I am the only hat I've met  
that sings a decent rhyme,  
but maybe I've gone on too long,  
I think it's Sorting time!"

Professor Leiman smiled down at the hat and held up a sheet of parchment. 

"Atterly, Ludwig," he called out, and a nervous-looking boy with extremely messy hair hurried up to the stool. 

Professor Leiman put the hat carefully on the boy's head, and it hmm and hummed for a few moments before calling out, loudly, "SLYTHERIN!"

Luke was pleased to see that Slytherin had gotten the first sorted student two years in a row, and he was even more pleased when, counting up the new Slytherins, he came to a very much more satisfactory than usual total of sixteen.

Luked looked around at his housemates. Lennox Finch-Fletchley was talking with Heironymous Runel. Eloise Parker and Phineas Chenner were both absent from the table, having graduated, and Luke suddenly had the impression that, with the loss of two of the ones he liked, most of the Slytherins were going to be utterly insufferable this year.

He turned to Marissa. "We'll check on Hagrid as soon as we can. Tomorrow morning, or maybe tomorrow evening. He has to be all right."

+----+

Marissa shook Luke awake and Luke was more than a bit surprised to see her actually inside the Slytherin boys' dormitory. She was already dressed to start up her day. "Come on," she hissed. "We've got to go and check on Hagrid."

Luke swung his legs out of his bed and stood up, grumbling. Fortinbras meowed irritably at being disturbed and dashed off to someplace else. Luke kept grumbling at a low volume as he rummaged around in his trunk to find clothes. "I need to put these on," he said, holding them up to show Marissa.

"Oh, right," she said, and she hurried out.

Luke sleepily pulled on his trousers, shirt, and school robes, and, without thinking about it, he cast a spell at his hair to put it in some semblance of order, then picked up his wand and blinked a couple of times. He was pretty sure he was never going to get used to the facility with wandless magic he had acquired since having his soul melded with Riddle's. He wouldn't be so thrown by it if it ever showed in useful places, instead of in weird little things like, for instance, forgoing the need for a comb.

Marissa was waiting for him in the common room, and she hurried out the instant he got in. "Aren't we not supposed to be out of the common room yet?" Luke objected.

"We're fine," Marissa said. "I made sure to double check, and we were allowed out of the common room about three minutes ago."

Luke grimaced. He plodded along after Marissa, and was somehow completely unsurprised when she opened the front door of the castle to reveal a sunrise that looked like it, too, was probably pretty groggy. Hagrid's hut stood on the grounds not too terribly far away, and he and Marissa went off towards it. It was so early that there was still dew all over everything, and by the time Marissa knocked on Hagrid's door, Luke's shoes were soaked, as were the cuffs of his slacks. 

"M'round the back!" Hagrid's voice called out, and Luke and Marissa exchanged a relieved look before heading around the back of the hut to find Hagrid leaning against the wall with Teddy standing next to him.

"Hello, Luke," Teddy said brightly. He had a slightly manic look that Luke had learned to associate with Teddy having woken up with the "assistance" of coffee. The fact that his hair kept shifting color at random served only to confirm Luke's theory.

"How long have you been down here?" Marissa asked.

"Two hours," Teddy said. "I came out of the Ravenclaw common room disguised as Professor Lynch. I think she was pretty startled to meet herself coming down the stairs. Fortunately, I managed to convince her that she was dreaming."

"'N' that was wrong, Teddy," Hagrid said. Sitting on the ground against the wall of his cabin, he was nearly as tall as Luke was standing up. He sounded a little drunk.

"Is everything all right, Hagrid?" Marissa prompted.

Hagrid burst into tears. "She's dead! Gone fer good, an' I couldn' do a thing fer her!"

"Who?" Luke cried. 

"Norberta!" Hagrid bawled. "Gone before her time, she is!"

"Norberta?" Luke mouthed silently to Teddy. Teddy shrugged. "Who's Norberta?" Luke asked, and Hagrid only sobbed more loudly.

Marissa slid down next to Hagrid and rubbed his back. "It's all right, Hagrid," she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Teddy, you just can't make yourself not be silly, can you?
> 
> There I go being mean to characters again. This whole Hagrid incident was pretty well unplanned as part of the story. I just figured I should get some Hagridding in.


	3. Coverng the Demonstration Stage in Grease

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decent progress today. I'm still ahead of schedule, by a pretty wide margin. I could do more writing, but it's getting late and i feel the need to socialize.

"They said it was a Swedish Short-Snout done it," Hagrid managed after a few minutes.

"Norberta got killed by a dragon?" Teddy said, astonished.

"'N' they said she's the one started the fight!" Hagrid blubbered. "My sweet li'l Norberta, startin' a fight!"

"Um," Marissa said after a few minutes, "Hagrid, is... er... was Norberta a dragon?"

Teddy's jaw dropped as Hagrid said, "She was the sweetest Norwegian Ridgeback."

Luke stepped forward and, with Teddy's help, lifted Hagrid onto his feet. They went into his hut and listened while Hagrid told stories about Norberta. When Charlie, Hagrid's assistant, poked his head in to see what was going on, he smiled. "Got him to start reminiscing. It's about time." He came to sit down with Hagrid. "I remember when he first asked me to take that dragon to the reserve in Romania. He thought she was the sweetest c reature he'd ever met." Charlie shot a tolerant little smile at Hagrid, then another at Luke, Teddy, and Marissa. "Thanks for cheering him up, but you three need to get down to breakfast."

Luke grimaced. "Yeah, we're late by now, aren't we?"

They were.

When they sat down with Victoire, she gave them a petulant look. "I had to sit here waiting all alone for you three. I hope you have a good explanation."

"Hagrid's pet dragon died," Luke said conversationally, pulling a box of Weasley's Dragon Crunch from the middle of the table. He started pouring while Victoire's mouth worked opened and closed.

"They're supposed to live for seventy years or so, but she picked a fight with another dragon and... uh... she lost," Teddy continued as Luke started in on his breakfast.

Marissa explained more to Victoire while Luke and Teddy had a fire-ring-blowing competition. A few people from nearby tables started applauding them, and a couple grabbed their own boxes of Dragon Crunch and joined in, until Professor Gills came around and scolded them for "behaving childishly," to which Luke almost protested that, technically, they were children, so a little bit of childishness was to be expected.

Potions was to be the first class, with the Gryffindors. Teddy wished Luke luck. "If last year was any indication, you'll need it."

"I'm good in potions, though," Luke said, but he couldn't get off any more parting shots than that. He was certainly looking forward to this year's potions classes, though. 

When the Gryffindor and the Slytherin fourth years were all gathered outside of Professor Leiman's door, it opened up and Professor Leiman poked his head out. A large bubble surrounded his head.

"Hello, class," he said, his voice reverberating oddly. Sickly bluish fumes wafted out of the classroom behind him. He hurriedly closed the door, raising his cane up to dismiss the bubble-head charm. "Anyone who doesn't know how to perform a bubble-head charm is going to know by the end of this year. I hope you all have your copies of The Accidental Poisoner's Guidebook?" Luke nodded, and everyone else made some similar response. "Good," Professor Leiman said. "Now, until now, we've dealt with mistakes the way most wizards and witches who make potions do. We've vanished the offending potion before it could put too much poison into the air. That's not how a master does it. This year, I expect you to learn the Ministry standard curriculum, which is very easy, but I also expect some--not all--of you to learn how to tell when a potion is salvageable, how to fix it when it is, and when to just give up. Now, everyone, repeat the incantation: ebublio!"

Once everyone had a bubble-head charm going, they went into the classroom. The bluish steam that wafted around felt greasy and thick. Professor Leiman explained that everyone would have to take a shower after class (Luke suspected that this explained the faint odor of burnt bread that always clung to the fourth years on the first day of classes), and he had them sit down at the tables. The steam was issuing from cauldrons full of thick, chunky, orange liquid. "By the end of this class period, you should all have identified this potion and added the one ingredient that will turn it into a usable draught," Professor Leiman informed them.

Luke grinned. He was going to like potions this year.

+----+

"That man," Teddy said, leaning back on his favorite chair in the private little room full of graffitied antique furniture the League had found a couple of years earlier, "is trying to kill us."

"Teddy, if he were trying, we'd be dead," Marissa said.

"I'm so glad I don't know what you're talking about," Victoire said. She was sitting on the floor in front of Teddy's chair. Marissa was reading out of her potions textbook, and Luke was graphing out the astrological signs Professor Trelawney had set for him. He could already tell that he was going to have a marvelously horrible year. Professor Trelawney's predictions, and therefore the predictions by her students, were rarely pleasant. He suspected that that had more to do with negative events making more of an impression in the world than positive ones, depressing though that thought might be.

"So do we have any thoughts on our Hufflepuff?" Teddy asked after staring contemplatively at the ceiling for a few minutes.

"No," Luke said. He was about to say something else, something suitably snarky, when the portrait opened up. 

Luke caught a glimpse of black hair and a long, refined nose before Violet's voice said, "oh, sorry," and the portrait snapped shut, which took Teddy instantly from cheerfully considering candidates for League membership to glaring at the wall. 

+----+

Luke hoped, tentatively, that he would have a pleasantly uneventful year, which was, of course, a foolish, fanciful sort of hope, but he could, after all, dream, and it was a pleasant enough dream to entertain. The first meeting of Dueling Club came earlier in the year than usual. Luke and Teddy walked excitedly together down to the Great Hall, expecting Professor Shelly to make an announcement about the International Academic Dueling Competition. Marissa came with them, chatting about the spelldances she had looked up over the summer. At the entrance hall, they met Victoire, and when they went inside, the Great Hall was as packed as always. 

The stage on which Professor Shelly always had her demonstration duel with Professor Leiman was set up, and the two professors were already there. They waited until it was time to officially begin the meeting, and then Professor Shelly thrust her left hand up towards the ceiling and a thunderclap sounded. Luke smiled. He actually knew how to perform that spell, although he still couldn't do it without a wand.

Professor Shelly started explaining the rules of dueling. Luke and Teddy kept an ear open for mention of the Competition, but since they knew about everything else Professor Shelly was going to say, they mostly continued their conversation, hoping to hear news about an upcoming expedition to America.

Professor Shelly, however, didn't say anything about taking anyone anywhere. She just ran through her usual spiel with little variation and then squared off against Professor Leiman. The potions professor stood calmly, waiting for Professor Shelly to make her move. Finally, she snapped, "Jukiri!" aiming her wand at a spot right in front of Professor Leiman. Professor Leiman snapped his cane up and mouthed a word that couldn't be heard in the least bit over the bolt of lightning that slammed down from some nebulous point above them. The sound was tremendous, louder than gunfire, louder than a car crash, louder than any sound Luke had ever heard before. At Professor Leiman's spell, though, the bottom of the lightning bolt split off into several fragments that scoured the stage around the target point.

Professor Leiman took a single step forward, his cane arcing over his head, and yelled "Repullu!" Professor Shelly nearly went over backwards, started skidding back on her heels, and did a neat little sidestep that brought her wand directly into line with Professor Leiman.

"Tarantellegra!" she shouted.

Professor Leiman let out a little yell of surprise as his legs began to move uncontrollably. He'd clearly been preparing to block a different spell, and he almost immediately hit the floor. Luke gasped, and then he smiled as Professor Leiman adapted. He folded himself up at the waist, pointing his cane at Professor Shelly's feet and snapping "lubruncto!"

Professor Shelly yelled "protego" at the same time, but her shield spell only caused the jet of black grease that shot from Professor Leiman's cane to splatter everywhere. While Professor Shelly recoiled, Leiman's came swept down and around and he snapped a counterjinx to stop his legs dancing. Professor Shelly had recovered by then, and her wand was pointed at Leiman.

"Caecitate!" Professor Shelly yelled, just as Professor Leiman put up a shield spell. Professor Shelly's spells sent out a jet of blue light that tore itself to pieces when it hit Professor Leiman's shield. He got to his feet, shaking his head.

Professor Shelly yelled "flipendo," but Leiman was already dodging to the side. He started sending stunning spells at her, and she had to put up a shield to stop him knocking her out. One of his stunners hit the shield with a bright flash. Professor Leiman's aim suddenly improved with that, and he adjusted, nodding, and took a deep breath.

"Scuruam," Professor Leiman intoned.

A brilliant orb of white light shot out of the end of his cane and smacked into Professor Shelly's shield spell. The shield shattered with an audible cracking sound, and Professor Leiman's followup stunner took Professor Shelly square in the center of the chest. She slumped to the ground.

Professor Leiman cast a counterspell at his eyes and stepped forward to revive Professor Shelly. She groaned when she sat up. "I almost got you that time."

"I wasn't expecting the dancing legs jinx," Professor Leiman said as he helped her up. "Clever, using the bad leg against me. Keep that up, and they'll start to wonder if you're head of Slytherin instead of Hufflepuff."

Professor Shelly chuckled dryly at that. "You're very funny." She turned to address the students. "Well, normally, we'd begin right away, but I have an announcement to make this time!" A hush of excited anticipation crawled over the gathered students. Luke turned to Teddy and they both grinned hugely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, he just destroys her every year. It's pretty sad, really. this is the closest Shelly has come to beating him yet, though. I'm not sure, but i might have her win their demonstration duel in seventh year.


	4. Calling Eugene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we go. Longer one this time, to keep myself on schedule.

Professor Shelly spoke with the air of someone handing out a valuable present. "For the first time in over a century, Hogwarts will be participating in the International Academic Dueling Competition! Naturally, we can't take everyone, so we'll be holding a little tournament here to determine who is going from each year. Each year will send two students. The fourteen students who are chosen to go will be traveling with me to America four times throughout the year, once in November, once immediately after the new year, once over the Easter Break, and one last time in May for the championship. Each visit will last for two weeks. You will have the opportunity to see a little bit of Wizarding America, but mostly you'll be in the Rockhouse Magical Academy of North America, where the competition is being held. If you want to go, you can sign up for the chance after tonight's meeting, and you'll get to compete for it."

As Professor Shelly spoke, visions of winning an international dueling championship danced in Luke's head. He knew he was one of the top four or five duelists in his year, although he was fairly certain that Violet was the best, and so competition would be fierce. He and Teddy sparred back and forth for a while, and then Luke got dragged aside by a Gryffindor boy whom he was fairly sure was flirting with him the whole time they dueled. He certainly flirted back, but the boy was ridiculously easy to trounce and theerefore not much fun to duel. He showed him a few tricks and went back to Teddy.

"What," Teddy said, "not picking up a new boyfriend?"

"Ugh," Luke said. He made an exaggerated face of disgust. "That's disgusting, Teddy. He's a Gryffindor."

Teddy laughed. "Too good for the Gryffindors, huh?"

Luke stuck his nose as far up into the air as it would go. "Naturally. I am a Slytherin, after all." He shrugged. "Really, he just wasn't much fun to duel with. I guess he just picked the wrong place to say hello." He looked over at the boy. There were so many Gryffindors that it was hard to keep them all striaght in his head, and he couldn't remember his Gryffindor friend's name. 

Luke was a bit surprised, at the end of the meeting, to see Violet skipping the signup sheet entirely. She spoke with Mark as she passed by the sheet, and Luke scowled and looked down at the ground as Aaron Somethingorother (he never could remember the boy's name, probably through an unconscious effort of will on his own part), Mark's boyfriend--and Luke's replacement--came up to talk with them, planting a kiss on Mark's cheek.

"You could have one of those," Teddy said.

"A Ravenclaw?" Luke said. "But I've already got one. Sometimes, he's even got spectacular breasts."

"Yeah, but if you try to kiss me, I'll break your legs," Teddy objected.

Luke got to the front of the line for the signup sheet and put down his name. Teddy followed suit. 

"So, which one of us do you think is going to go to America?" Teddy asked.

"Why can't it be both?"

"Because that's unlikely," Teddy replied calmly.

"Unlikely happens to me a lot, in case you haven't noticed," Luke said.

+----+

Much of the Slytherin common room could talk of little besides the upcoming tournament that night. Luke ignored them in favor of doing his potions homework. Runel was just as focused on schoolwork. Most of the other fourth years were. The fifth years, Luke noticed, had basically vanished after about a week. He knew OWLs were a stressful, high-work problem, but he was a bit surprised at the amount of work that the teachers had assigned to even the fourth years. He wouldn't have to take his OWLs for the better part of two years yet, and he was still being made to do a ridiculous amount of work. At least the work for Professor Leiman was sort of obliquely fun. 

Herbolody, though, was difficult. Luke had never really realized how much he depended on Mark to help him in Herbology until he didn't have the Hufflepuff's help. 

Teddy's continuing obsession with finding a new Hufflepuff was no help for Luke's nerves, either, and by the time October came around, Luke was feeling more than a little frayed around the edges. He had been having a lot of dreams about Voldemort's life, and although they weren't all nightmares anymore, like they had been the year before, it was still unsettling to remember in such vivid detail night after night.

No one was inviting him to go out drinking, at least, for which he was grateful. There were days, he knew, when he wouldn't be able to resist an offer like that, especially after Teddy started bringing Hufflepuffs--mostly girls he thought were pretty--to meet Luke, Marissa, and Victoire. None of them, naturally, were a fit, and finally, after the first tournament meeting of the Dueling Club (Luke and Teddy had soundly defeated their opponents), when Teddy dragged a sixth-year girl who looked like an older version of Violet to meet his friends, Luke resolved to do something about it.

A Gryffindor would have simply yelled at Teddy had it done with. A Ravenclaw would have worked with Teddy to speed up the process. A Hufflepuff would have talked it over with Teddy.

Luke looked the girl up and down, then turned around and marched into the thinning crowd of Dueling Club members. He spotted three Hufflepuff boys, fifth years, by the look of them. Two of them were obviously consoling the third, who, judging from the bandage wrapped around his head, must have lost a match pretty badly. All three were fairly attractive, though they weren't stunningly handsome (for the most part, the one with the bandage actually looked like he could play model). "Excuse me," Luke said.   
The bandaged one looked up. "Oh! Um, hello," he said nervously. 

"Can I borrow you three for a moment?" Luke said. "It's only, I need a small gaggle of Hufflepuff boys with nice faces and good bodies to prove a point, and you three are here, so..."

The boys all stared at him. The shortest one, a black boy with ridiculously sharp features that, now he was looking at Luke directly, he obviously knew how to work with (everything about his appearance was set up to turn his face from startlingly aggressive to strikingly handsome, and did so quite well), said, "excuse me?"

"Well, it's just, my best mate's been driving me up the wall, thinks we need to have a friend from Hufflepuff, and he's been bringing a whole lot of girls that he thinks would make good girlfriends, instead of... you know... behaving logically or trying to actually make friends. I thought, maybe bringing over a bunch of handsome Hufflepuffs..."

The boys exchanged a smug smile. "So that's what Lupin's been up to," the black boy said. "All right, if it'll stop him raiding our classes for girls, we'll help."

"Yeah," the boy who hadn't spoken yet said in a thick Scottish brogue. "I'm starting to feel like we're getting pillaged by really indecisive Vikings. Keeps putting back the ones he doesn't like so much."

Luke grinned at that. "Well, I dunno, Ulfric the Brutal, do we really want to burn the whole place to the ground? Can't we just singe it a bit?"

The three boys laughed.

"I need to know your names," Luke said.

"Harry Linshire," Bandages said.

"Harry Cobham," the black boy said. He stuck out his right hand, and Luke shook it with a grin.

"Doug Marshall," the Scottish boy added. 

Luke had to smile a bit at the profusion of Harrys at Hogwarts. He led his newfound accomplices to where Teddy was trying to figure out what was wrong with his latest candidate. 

"Teddy!"

Teddy looked up, and his eyes went wide. The girl he'd brought adopted an almost-identical expression, and Victoire, who was talking to Marissa, rolled her eyes and started talking more animatedly.

"You reminded me," Luke said. "I found a few boys who might make good Hufflepuffs for us." He gestured. "This is Doug. He's... well, he's got a nice bum. And these two charming young gentlemen are the Harrys. Harry Linshire" Luke gestured "really ought to be a model, and Harry Cobham... well."

Teddy turned red, and then scowled. "All right, you made your point."

"What was his point?" the girl with Teddy asked.

Luke smiled at him. "You'll have to tell her yourself. Come on, Victoire, Marissa." He grinned at his temporary entourage. "Thanks," he said.

Harry Linshire and Doug both grinned and nodded at him, then hurried off towards the entrance to the Great Hall. Harry Cobham stayed nearby, smiling at him. "That was pretty funny," he said, following Luke as he started through the entrance hall. 

Victoire hugged Luke. "Thanks," she said. "It was getting really annoying to have to deal with all his little fantasy-girls."

"You would've hexxed him eventually," Luke grinned back at her. Victoire chuckled knowingly and bobbed away down the corridor towards the other end of the castle. 

"Would she have?" Harry asked.

"She's totally in love with him," Marissa said. "Of course she would."

Harry laughed. "You have dangerous friends, don't you Restimen?"

"I think of Professor Leiman as a friend."

"Well, he's a good sort of dangerous, isn't he?"

"He saved Luke's life," Marissa said. "After the attack on the Hogwarts Express."

Luke frowned. That was a painful memory, the night his mother died, but if it had a bright point (after everything went pear-shaped, at least, since it had been a very nice evening before then), then Professor Leiman's rescue was probably it.

"Oh, I guess he really is a friend, then." Harry said. He looked up. The corridor to the kitchens, and therefore to the Hufflepuff common room, was right next to them. He headed off down it.

Luke moved on down the corridor with Marissa until a voice behind him said, "Restimen!"

Luke turned around. Harry was leaning around the corner, one hand gripping the stone. Luke waved Marissa on ahead and hurried up to Harry.

"Something wrong?"

Harry grinned. "What are you doing first Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Nothing," Luke said. 

"Want to go to the Hog's Head with me?"

Luke shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm not allowed in the Hog's Head."

"You got kicked out?"

"I kicked myself out. Had a bit of a drinking problem."

Harry's eyes went wide. "You mean those rumors were true?"

Luke suddenly found his shoes very interesting. "Yeah. Considering what happened the year before that, it's probably a miracle I'm not in a gutter somewhere right now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just waltz into a bar because I have permission to act a git."

Harry gave him a pitying look. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't--"

"The Three Broomsticks is all right, Madam Rosmerta won't give me any liquor," Luke interrupted. "Only, can I use your middle name? I'm not sure how I'd do snogging a Harry."

"You want to call me Eugene?"

"You don't like Eugene?"

He shook his head. Luke pursed his lips in thought, and then smiled. "How about Gene?"

"That's good," Harry--Gene said. "So you want to snog me?"

Luke stood on tiptoe to drop a kiss on Gene's lips. "Well, you're cute. And you asked me out. I might have to be worried about developing a thing for Hufflepuffs at this rate."

"You're a Gryffindor in disguise anyway," Gene said. "I remember the Chocolate Frog Incident."

Luke couldn't help laughing at that. "Well, to be fair, Runel's a first-class arsehole. He deserves as much punching as he can get."

Gene's smile was infectious and bright. Luke dared one more kiss before he headed off to the Slytherin common room with a call of "see you at Hogsmeade."

"See you tomorrow at breakfast," Gene corrected.

+----+

When Luke got back to the common room, Marissa was lounging in a chair, reading one of Luke's Star Trek novels. He sat down in the next chair over, turfing a second-year out of it.

"I think I just got a boyfriend."

"Well, he was pretty hot," Marissa said, her nose still buried in the novel. Captain Kirk looked very serious about whatever he was staring at, but the cover was tattered, the paperback almost as old as Luke was.

"You're not surprised at all."

"He wanted you. That was really obvious. I mean, he was flirting with you a lot."

Luke blushed. "He wants me to meet him on the first Hogsmeade weekend. We're going to the Three Broomsticks. He invited me to the Hog's Head, but... you know..."

"Oh, have you heard?" Marissa said.

"Heard what?"

"The barman at the Hog's Head is in St. Mungo's. The bar is closed."

"Oh, no," Luke said. "Aberforth!" and he went to write a letter.

+----+

The next day, Teddy was surprised when Gene sat down next to Luke. 

"Harry?" Teddy said incredulously.

"Actually, I think it's Gene, to you," Gene said.

"Yeah," Luke said. He looked nervously up as the owls started flying in, but no bird landed in front of him. "Gene, have you heard about Aberforth at the Hog's Head?"

"No." Gene looked worried. "Is he okay?"

"He's in St. Mungo's, apparently," Luke said. "I sent a letter last night, asking about him."

"Oh, no," Teddy said. "I liked Aberforth. I hope he hasn't finally finished dessicating."

Victoire punched him hard on the shoulder. "Teddy!"

"Well, it's accurate!" Luke kicked him under the table. "Ow!"

Gene leaned over. "I wish we could visit him."

"I'm not sure Andromeda would be too thrilled about my going to visit my favorite bartender's sickbed."

Gene sighed. "He's sort of a fixture at Hogsmeade. You could probably convince her to let you. Who's Andromeda?"

"My gran," Teddy said. "Legally, she's adopted Luke."

"She knows about my drinking problem." Luke poked at his scrambled eggs. "She wouldn't be happy about my going to check up on a bartender, even if he is a war hero and all that."

Gene rubbed Luke's back. "No reply to your letter?"

"Nothing," Luke said worriedly.

"Well, he is a hundred and twenty eight years old," Marissa said. "That's very old, even for a wizard."

Luke raised an eyebrow. Gene's hand was wandering across his back and sort of naturally falling into a possessive place, his arm wrapped around Luke's waist. "How do you know how old he is?"

"He's a war hero," Marissa said, repeating Luke's words from earlier.

"Are you dating?" Teddy asked.

Victoire rolled her eyes. "No, Teddy, Gene's just decided to sit down with Luke and hold him around the waist to make you ask questions."

"Yes, we're dating," Luke said. He kissed Gene on the cheek. "He asked me out last night. He wanted to take me to the Hog's Head, but that can't happen, since there's no good me going to the Hog's Head. I asked him to go to the Three Broomsticks instead. They've got good food, anyways."

"And it's sort of fun to watch boys stumble over themselves trying to get Madam Rosmerta's attention," Gene put in.

Luke grinned and snuggled up a little closer against Gene's side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's a hundred and twenty eight years old. Don't get outraged at his ill health, get outraged at his ridiculous oldness.


	5. The Knight Bruise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, gonna have to start taking the ol' laptop to work if I wanna get this done in a reasonable amount of time.
> 
> (read: if I wanna get this done before the twentieth)

The next week or so went by with almost shocking speed. Luke and Gene were briefly the center of gossip, which was unsurprising. A few people accused Gene of going out with Luke solely because of his connection with Voldemort. Luke, for his part, thought that was utterly ridiculous. There was one more meeting of the Dueling Club before the first Hogsmeade weekend, and the little tournament they had going finished up at that meeting. It was a tense, close thing, but Luke and Teddy managed to edge into the two top spots for the fourth years. Luke still had a massive bruise across the side of his face from the duel that had secured him the spot when he sat down for lunch in the Three   
Broomsticks with Gene. 

"I really wish I'd seen how that happened," Gene said.

"I used a conversion spell to turn everything that he threw at me into physical force instead of letting it have the magical effect it was supposed to," Luke explained, although he'd told Gene before.

"I know," Gene said, "and that was a stunner. But, well, I'm not sure if you know this, but you're kinda sexy when you duel. You get all determined. Makes me wish I was going to America with you."

Madam Rosmerta came over to the table. "Oh, hello," she said. "On a date, Mister Restimen?"

Luke smiled up at her. "Yes ma'am."

Gene grinned. "I got lucky, got a good catch."

Madam Rosmerta took their orders with a smile, and Luke and Gene toyed with their drinks when they came. Gene got butterbeer, Luke had pumpkin juice. Their conversation wandered over every topic they could think of, but always, inevitably, it came back to Rockhouse and the tournament. 

"It's going to be weird to see Rockhouse," Luke said. "It's only a couple of hundred years old, not utterly ancient like Hogwarts. And the lake!"

"We've got a lake," Gene pointed out.

Luke almost--almost--rolled his eyes at that. "We're next to a lake, but they're in one. And it's a big one. Might as well be an ocean. Rockhouse is totally isolated by water. I guess it's sort of a popular thing to do in the States, jamming a school of magic into water. There's one in Lake Superior, one in Lake Michigan, one in Crater Lake... I think there might be one under the Mississippi River Delta, too. I might have read that wrong, though."

"You don't suppose they've got windows under the water, do you?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "The one in Lake Michigan definitely does, they're famous for it, but I don't know about Rockhouse. It's a little more close-lipped of a place."

"Close lipped?"

Luke nodded. "They don't talk as much about Rockhouse outside of Rockhouse. It's old enough that they've got a bit of traditional reticence, I expect." He took a bite of his sandwich. 

"Well, you know how it is," Gene said. "You build a school of magic and you expect it to retain all of your ancient secrets for all eternity."

Luke chuckled. "There are so many better places to keep magical secrets."

"But are there really better places to teach them?"

Luke didn't have an answer for that, so he didn't bother replying. Instead, he just wagged an eyebrow and resumed making inroads on his food. 

Once they were done with their meal, Luke and Gene headed out to wander around Hogsmeade. Gene took Luke through some of the more picturesque areas of the town, and Luke made the appropriate noises at the nicer views (including a very dramatic one of the mountains, over a stretch of fence).

Luke found that his hand slotted very naturally with Gene's, and he was sure they made a very cute couple walking down the street together. Eventually, he dragged Gene into the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The manager on location, Luke was totally unsurprised to see, was George Weasley, and he greeted Luke with an enthusiastic pat on the back. "Come see what I've charmed those masks that look like you to do!"

"Do I have to?" Luke said. "I'm here on a date."

"All the more reason," George said. He winked at Gene. "Every bloke loves a good laugh? Where'd you pick this one up, anyways? He's a lot taller than the last one. Less of a--"

"George," Luke interrupted as George dragged him inexorably towards the rack of masks.

George stopped whatever he'd been about to say about Mark, but he kept dragging Luke, and soon Luke was staring at the section of wall covered in joke masks. The ones that looked like him were labeled "He-Who-Must-Not-Receive-Detention."

"You've changed the name," Luke said.

"Well, people figured out you weren't scary, just goofy and surprisingly gay."

"Oh, nice," Luke said. "You ought to sell one that looks like Teddy about Halloween, that'd frighten anyone."

"Man, we were going to, but Harry made me quit making them."

Gene snorted out a loud laugh, which made Luke laugh at him. "It was funny," Gene objected. 

"You think I was joking?" George said. "Teddy was in on it, but it happened."

The masks were mouthing things that looked somewhat insulting. "I'm guessing you had to silence them?"

George nodded. "It got too noisy. But they comment on the appearance of whoever is nearby. I imagine they're screaming angry compliments at you right now. Oh, I heard that you did something interesting with howlers. Do you know how they work?"

"Try runes," Luke said.

"That was you?" Gene said incredulously.

"Yeah," Luke said, "but you don't know that."

"Oh, naturally." A devilish look came into Gene's eye. "It's pretty cool, though. Makes me wanna snog my new boyfriend."

Luke let out a little "ack" noise as Gene leaned over and kissed him, thoroughly and in an overblown, dramatic manner.

"Fourth date?" George said, obviously holding back laughter.

"First date," Luke said once his mouth was free, "but we've been hanging about a lot at school." He looked up at the masks. One of them was clearly wolf-whistling. "Also, he's really forward."

"I like really forward," George said. "Remind me to tell you about Alicia sometime."

Luke made a mental note to get the story out of George eventually, but he moved on with Gene. Gene cooed over a Pygmy Puff, and Luke had to pull him away from them.

"But they're pink and fluffy," Gene objected as they left the joke shop. 

"That's precisely why you don't need one," Luke said, hoping Gene wouldn't think too hard about whether or not that made sense. Fortunately, Gene provided the second half of the reasoning for him.

"I guess I don't need anything else cute in my life, as I've already got you."

Luke blinked. "That was altogether too saccharine."

Gene grinned. "Maybe I could make it up to you?"

"You don't have to make up for saccharine," Luke said.

"I'd probably enjoy it, though."

It took Luke a minute to figure out what he meant, but after that, he allowed himself to be led off somewhere a little more private.

+----+

That night was Gene's first experience with the swear-chair room. Luke walked up to the portrait in the Hogwarts corridors that looked to be of a pile of horse manure with flies zipping around it. 

"An auror's nipples," Luke said conversationally.

The painting popped open. Marissa was playing chess with Victoire. Teddy was doing his Ancient Runes homework, with...

"Teddy, why is Fortinbras on your head?"

"Well, I thought he might be getting lonely in your dormitory, so I turned into Lennox and acted dumb until someone let me in. Your password's Basilisk, by the way."

"Yeah," Luke said. "Next month is 'green.'"

"You know yours ahead of time?" Victoire complained as Gene sat down on one of the many pieces of clawfooted furniture covered in graffiti. Luke sprawled out, leaning on Gene's chest.

"Yeah," Luke said. "They go in a cycle of associations. It's a pretty neat riddle, actually. Voldemort had it figured out, and, well..." he tapped his temple.

Gene put his arms comfortably around Luke's chest. "How much do you remember?"

"Everything until he tried to kill Potter as a baby, with a few odd little little gaps. He feels pretty terrible about it, actually, which means that I do, too."

"Oh," Gene squeezed him. "Sorry."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, and then Teddy said, "so, Luke. Still a virgin?"

Gene spluttered a bit, but Luke just drew his wand and cast aguamenti at Teddy. "Just soak him if he gets cute with you," Luke suggested.

"Or you could hit him with a bat-bogey hex. Aunt Ginny promised to show me how to cast a good one this Christmas."

"I could show you how to do it, too," Luke reminded her.

"Yeah, but you were never the scourge of Hogwarts with it."

"I am still pretty good at it," Luke pointed out.

"But not as good as Aunt Ginny, unless Tom Riddle was secretly a fan of flying snot."

"It is still a valid question," Teddy said.

"No, we didn't have wild sex in front of the Shrieking Shack," Luke said.

"Luke!"

Luke tilted his head back. "Something wrong, Gene?"

+----+

The day before the Dueling Club members were to leave for America, Gene pulled Luke aside into an unused classroom.

"I'm going to miss you," Gene said.

"And you're not going to see me off when Professor Shelly takes us off to Hogsmeade Station?"

Gene pulled out his wand and muttered a spell at the door. It sealed itself with a small squelching sound. "I am," Gene said. "I just don't think she'd appreciate my doing what I'd like to do right now. And it would probably take too long."

+----+

Professor Shelly piled the group onto the Hogwarts Express, and Teddy leaned a bit sleepily against the window. Luke curled up on the seat and was asleep within seconds. The sound of the compartment door sliding open woke him up, and he looked up blearily as Professor Shelly explained the umpteen million things they were going to have to do at the airport, including the charms that had been placed on their bags. As soon as she was out, Luke's head slumped down onto the little table between him and Teddy.

"You all right, mate?" Teddy said.

Luke nodded. "I'm fine. How long was I asleep?

"It's after noon," Teddy said. "I've been awake for a couple of hours."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Luke said. "Got back to the dormitory after midnight, and then Fortinbras was irritated I woke him up."

"Why did you get back to the dormitory after midnight?"

Luke shot Teddy a little grin. "Gene wouldn't let me out of the classroom for a few hours."

Teddy shook his head. "Classroom?"

"He dragged me off after classes yesterday. We spent a while in a locked classroom. I'm still not entirely sure where my socks are."

Teddy's jaw dropped a bit. "That's how he said goodbye?"

"Well, I would have been fine with a tasteful gift, maybe a bit of chocolate, or a presorted bag of every-flavor beans, but Gene thought that maybe he should just make sure I didn't have to pack my virginity in a suitcase. It's shaped a little awkwardly, you know, and the customs people ask you what it is, and that's just embarrassing..."

Teddy glared at Luke. "You spent hours in a classroom with Gene. Having sex. In a classroom."

"It was a bit spur of the moment, and actually, it was sort of a turn on. I mean, kind of... naughty, you know."

Teddy reached out and smacked his brother across the top of the head. Luke grinned. "Teddy, you're my brother."

"Actually, I'm your nephew,"

"Shut up, I've never had a brother before you, and I'm still enjoying it."

Teddy smiled indulgently. "Well, truth be told, I'm enjoying it as well. After all, every bloke needs a little brother to take care of."

"Yeah, little by how many months?"

+----+

The next time Luke woke up, he looked out the window and cringed at the setting sun.

"Oh, good," Teddy said. "I was about to wake you up. You know how late it is?"

"I can guess," Luke replied. "Did Professor Shelly come by at all?"

"Just once. She laughed at you still being asleep, and I told her it was sexual exhaustion."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Did you really?"

Teddy nodded. "She laughed and said something about broom closets and butterbeer."

"That's Professor Shelly," Luke said. "I hope you haven't just been waiting for me so you could play Scrabble."

"Well, actually, I have." Teddy shrugged. "But I caught sight of London a few minutes ago, so we haven't got time anymore. You might as well just do your morning charms and jam your wand in your bag."

Luke took Teddy's suggestion, and by the time he was ready--muggle clothes, hair in order, wand well hidden in the bottom of his checked bag--the train was pulling into King's Cross. 

From the train station, the fifteen of them--fourteen students plus Professor Shelly--ran to catch a violently purple triple decker bus that pulled up to the curb just as they arrived. A spotty young man took their bags and chattered away pointlessly as they went in. When he took Luke's bag, his eyes went wide.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! Hey Gerald! It's Luke Restimen!"

Gerald, it turned out, was the driver of the bus, a twitchy-looking man of about fifty with the thickest glasses Luke had ever seen. He looked curiously and very quickly at Luke, then turned his attention directly back to the road in front of him as though he was afraid that it was going to start moving if he took his eyes off of it for too long. "I seen 'im, Jimmy."

Jimmy stood there stupidly, holding Luke's bag until he went totally pale and pointed at something behind Luke. Luke turned around and saw Teddy slowly gaining height and breadth.

"Stop it, Teddy," he said, showing his ticket to Jimmy, who waved him aboard the bus. 

The interior was full of squashy armchairs like in the Slytherin common room, and a couple of couches, and one huge sectional sofa, and all of it appeared to have been hastily bolted to the floor. A number of tables were definitely not bolted down, and little reading lamps were bolted to the walls. It all looked about ready to peel up the hardwood floor. 

"You know," Luke said as Teddy came up behind him, "I have this theory that magic leads to insanity, and every time I stop believing it, I see something like this bus."

"Come on," Teddy said, "the Knight Bus is fun, and it's perfectly safe."

"Right," Luke settled dubiously into a chair. "When a wizard assures me that something is perfectly safe without my asking if it's safe, I usually assume it's not safe."

"But it's just the Knight Bus," Teddy said, rejecting two seats before settling on one that faced across the bus rather than towards the front. Luke switched seats to one that faced the opposite direction from Teddy.

"Everyone aboard?" Gerald yelled from the front, and without any further ado, the bus leapt forward with a bang and a horrible engine noise. Luke grabbed for the arms of his chair, but it was a pointless effort. He nearly went over the arm, and Teddy flinched. 

"Bad luck, that. Got a chair with lower arms. You learn to choose the right ones after a few times."

"This thing is going to kill us!" Luke yelled.

"Nonsense," Teddy said cheerily. 

Luke looked out the front of the bus and immediately wished he hadn't. A fire plug jumped out of the way of the bus, and then a letterbox, and someone's washing hung out to air dry. London was streaking past the windows, moving at a speed that made Luke want to curl up in a little ball, which he would have done if it weren't for the fact that it would most likely have gotten him tossed out of a window by whatever insane maneuver Gerald pulled next. When the bus came to a stop, Luke was holding white-knuckled to the arms of the chair. Professor Shelly looked a bit shellshocked as she led the students out of the Knight Bus and onto the blessedly solid ground in front of Heathrow Airport. 

Luke nearly kissed the pavement.

Looking around, it was easy to spot which students were muggleborn and which were purebloods. The purebloods looked like they were going to a party with an eighties theme, since that was about the only place that the clothes they were wearing could fit in.

Luke took a deep breath and let himself relax. 

"We're going in one of those, aren't we?" Teddy said, pointing as an Airbus of some variety took off. 

Luke grinned. Revenge, he thought, was likely to be fairly sweet. "It's an airline. They're loads of fun, and perfectly safe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there goes the last little vestiges of Luke's virginity. All he hasn't had yet is a woman.
> 
> And yes, Gene, is at least partially permanent, although his character arc is going to be different than what you probably think.
> 
> So, this chapter isn't the first time in the series that we get hints that Professor Shelly may have been a little bit of a sexual freedom poster child. First off, there's her ex-husband, who is no slouch when it comes to finding willing women, and then there's a few things she said about Violet in second year, and of course, there's the incident with the drawer in the same year, when we learn she was fairly sought-after in her Hogwarts days.
> 
> Also, I am sad that it became five AM as early as it did, because I was rather looking forward to writing wizards on a plane.


	6. Everything's Bigger in Texas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here goes Fort Worth.  
> Yes, there is a reason that they went to Texas even though their final destination is on one of the Great Lakes. We'll get around to that next installment.

Teddy looked dubious, to say the least.

Luke just smiled at him as blandly as possible and hefted his carry on bag in one hand and his checked bag in the other, and the whole little entourage headed into the airport.  
Despite his assurance to Teddy, Luke had never actually taken an airline. He was certain it couldn't be as bad as the Knight Bus (Lennox was still rubbing at his shin where a loose table had bounced down from the second level of the bus and barked him hard on the leg), but between stories of turbulence and talk about ears popping from the pressure difference, Luke wasn't sure he wanted to climb aboard an airplane himself. 

On the other hand, if it was even the slightest bit like flying on a broom, he was fairly certain he was going to be eating his worries in a little while. 

Professor Shelly had booked a relatively late flight, and they had gotten in early enough--they'd all woken up before dawn--that they had plenty of time to get to the terminal. Professor Shelly even let them do some browsing at the little shops in the airport (after going through security, which even the muggle-borns eyed dubiously). Luke was one of the few who had brought muggle money, so he found himself instantly popular, with everyone giving him money to pay for things they wanted to buy. On a whim, Luke bought a little die-cast toy jumbo jet for Gene, who he thought would be amused by it. Teddy insisted on getting one for Victoire's grandfather, as well. Pretty soon, though, Luke's muggle money ran out, leaving all the other students disappointed until they found a few wizarding shops selling a multitude of magical ways to deal with air travel. Luke got some bubble gum that was supposed to "prevent ear-popping, airsickness, aching legs, and water-closet woes," which Luke decided to assume meant that it would keep him from having to get up and use the bathroom, rather than that there was some deleterious effect of air travel on his nether regions that he hadn't heard about before. 

Soon enough, the rowdy little group was at the terminal itself, fourteen teens and preteens, all laughing and teasing and being loud, and poor Professor Shelly left to deal with them, unable to pull out her wand in the middle of an airport even if it had been somewhere besides her checked bag.

Luke pointed out the various airplanes to Teddy and one of the seventh years, who seemed utterly fascinated by the fact that muggles managed to keep the things from plowing into the ground. After the fifth go-round of explaining about airfoils, they started boarding, and Luke uttered a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god it was that kept insufferably dull people from boring the rest of humanity to death while he approached the ticket counter. 

Their seats were all together. Teddy was right next to Luke, and they played rock-paper-scissors for the window seat. Luke won, and triumphantly assumed his place, exactly as if he was taking a seat in a throne. Teddy rolled his eyes before he sat down, giving Luke the most disdainful look he could. Lennox Finch-Fletchley sat down beside Teddy.

"Oh, bugger," Teddy said calmly. "Someone's spilled a prat all over the seat next to me."

"Professor Shelly," Lennox said, "is there a Dementor somewhere on this thing I can switch places with?"

Professor Shelly burst out laughing, and she let Lennox switch places with a Gryffindor second year who looked all too delighted by the prospect of sitting next to Teddy. She kept making the biggest eyes she could at him.

Teddy started in on the subject of Luke's having lost his virginity, and that shut the poor girl down pretty effectively, until the engines started up. Teddy began to look nervously around, peering out the window. He turned slightly green when he saw the tarmac moving by. 

"We're not even in the air yet," Luke said.

"But we're moving," Teddy said. "I thought these things only moved in the air."

"You saw them out the window, Teddy," Luke pointed out.

"So nothing's wrong? I mean, even though we're moving and we're not in the aaaaaugh!" His objection was cut off as the engines went from "on" to "roaring." The acceleration was sort of thrilling for Luke, but Luke was used to cars and such, and Teddy was only used to the Knight Bus, which didn't accelerate anything like as steadily as a jet. He leaned back like he was being pressed into his seat and stared wide-eyed at Luke with his mouth open in a scream that had begun with the engines going to full power and quickly fallen silent out of sheer, unabashed terror. The plane got into the air.

Teddy looked like he wanted to craw out of the window. Luke popped a piece of his gum into his mouth and offered one to Teddy.

Teddy took it, popped it in his mouth, remembered only then to unwrap it, did so very numbly, popped it back in his mouth, and didn't start chewing.

Only once the ascent was complete did Teddy relax marginally. Luke grinned. "You okay, Teddy?"

Teddy chewed experimentally on his gum. "This thing is not natural," Teddy said. The girl next to him laughed.

"Said the wizard," Luke replied evenly.

Teddy relaxed slowly, by degrees, and then he looked out the window, saw clouds, and turned green all over again.

Luke waited for Teddy to calm down again, and once he had, he pulled his bag down from the overhead rack and extracted a travel version of a board game from it. Luke and Teddy played for a while, along with the girl next to them, but there was only so much entertainment to be had from chess, followed by checkers,followed by backgammon, followed by chess again, especially when Teddy kept complaining that the pieces didn't move on their own. Luke put the games away when the flight attendant came by with a cart of food. Professor Shelly bought everyone lunch (though it was more like dinner), and after they had eaten, Luke started in on his potions essay from Professor Leiman. He couldn't imagine trying to do work assigned by a teacher who made them use parchment and quill (though he could see one of the other Hogwarts students doing just that a couple of rows ahead, drawing all manner of odd looks), so he was very grateful to Professor Leiman for letting his students use pen and notebook paper. Nobody was staring at him except when he mentioned things like hellebore and infusion of monkshood, and then they went right back to staring at the girl with the parchment.

Teddy pulled out his own potions essay, and by the time they started their descent, he seemed to have forgotten all about the fact that he was on an airplane.

The descent changed that.

Teddy went ramrod straight when the captain announced they were beginning their descent, and Luke sighed, put away his paper and pen, and reached over to Teddy. "It's all right, you know. Honestly, it's perfectly safe."

"It's a descent," Teddy said, somewhat frantically. "I know how fast these things go!"

"They don't go fast enough that the descent will hurt you," Luke promised. He watched Teddy tense up when the wheels hit the runway. 

"Is it supposed to make that sound?" Teddy asked. He looked ready to unbuckle his seatbelt and fling himself out of the window. 

"Yes," Luke said. "It's fine, Teddy."

The plane taxied to the terminal, and they got off with the rest of the travelers. Professor Shelly looked around, smiling, as she led them through the terminal to the baggage claim. After much mucking about with their bags, they finally got out into the open air.

The shockingly warm open air. It wasn't that it was sweltering, but they had all dressed warmly in preparation for cold, and what they got was in the upper sixties. Everyone began sweating immediately.

"It's November!" one of the fifth-years griped.

"We're in Texas," Professor Shelly said. "Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It's going to be warm. Oh, there's our ride!"

She hurried towards a car with a logo on the side. As Luke approached, he saw that the logo was a pair of crossed wands overlaid with a group of four circles. Below the logo was the slogan "Futurorum Pertinet ad Iuvenem" in block lettering. Professor Shelly leaned over, and the driver of the car spoke to her for a minute. Professor Shelly opened up the boot of the car, and took the bags one by one, throwing them in, then opened up the back seat. Luke could see various muggles gaping as fifteen checked bags and fifteen carry on bags vanished into the boot like something out of a comedy routine. After the bags were stowed away, Professor Shelly ushered her little group into the back seat of the car.  
Fourteen students piled one after the other into the spacious (unnaturally, magically spacious) backseat of the large sedan. Luke had to imagine that it was like watching a clown car being filled. As soon as Luke got in, he breathed a sigh of relief. The car had air conditioning. He had to help Teddy find the seatbelt, and the girl on his other side. After everyone was buckled up, the car pulled away from the curb, and the next hour was spent in boisterous observation of exactly how ordinary everything looked. 

When the car pulled up in front of a shabby bookstore, Professor Shelly urged everyone out as fast as possible, and in the mild air, they shucked jumpers and threw them over their shoulders before taking their bags. 

Luke peered at the sign over the bookstore. It said "Paradise Books," which Luke thought sounded promising. Professor Shelly went in, and the man behind the counter looked up, totally unsurprised to see fifteen people with luggage walking into his store. He was old and wizened, with a shock of fluffy white hair and glasses that Luke thought might serve as passable telescope lenses.

When he saw Professor Shelly, a huge grin broke out across his face, and he spoke with a (completely unsurprising) American accent. "Shelly! Shelly Fletcher?"

Luke blinked at the use of the wrong name, but Professor Shelly took it in stride. "Actually, it's Leiman now, Arlo," she said. "Good to see you again. It's been too long."

Arlo the bookseller just rolled his eyes. "It's always too long. So, you actually went and married that boy, did you?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Professor Shelly said. "How's the passage today?"

Arlo chuckled. "Crowded. You got in just in time to get swamped. There's a lot of traffic for the release of the Aught-Fifty-Five."

"Oh, cripes," Professor Shelly said. "I forgot about that. Well, at least traffic to Rockhouse shouldn't be too awful."

Arlo finally paid some mind to the Hogwarts students milling about in his shop. "Is that where you're taking these little pains in the ass?"

Luke grinned at being so casually labeled as a pain in the ass by someone who so clearly enjoyed being an irascable old man.

"They're all participating in the dueling championship," Professor Shelly confirmed.

"Looks like they might fair better as targets than as duelists," Arlo said.

"Very funny, Arlo," Professor Shelly said. 

"Who says I'm being funny?"

Professor Shelly gestured to Luke. "If you like, you can take it up with Mister Restimen here."

Arlo peered at Luke, then let out a sharp bark of laughter. "So it is! Well, Shelly, I'm sure your mother must just be absolutely fascinated to hear everything about him."

"As much as she can get out of the Prophet," Professor Shelly said. "But we've got to be going now. It was nice seeing you again, Arlo."

Professor Shelly led them off into the stacks. Luke spotted a section labeled "Gay Magical History," and he was torn between the desire to go an find a new role model among the people in the books and to question how large such a section could really possibly be. Then again, the whole shop appeared to be about twelve times bigger on the inside than the storefront space alloted to it suggested it should be. They passed an entire section of cookbooks that wafted enticing aromas at them, and found themselves at a fairly nondescript little wooden door. A draft blew in from under the door. Professor Shelly got down to her knees and slid her hand into the front pocket of her checked bag as far as it would go. She came back out with her wand, with which she tapped the door five times. It swung open.

Luke wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but the plain, square, concrete-lined tunnel on the other side of the door was significantly less impressive than whatever it might have been he thought was on the other side of the door.

The tunnel whispered with faint echoes and slanted down into the ground, curving slightly off to the right. Professor Shelly headed down the tunnel, and the others followed. One of the seventh years hung back to ensure that the door was closed behind them. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, sloping steadily down and curling around to the right until it joined another, wider tunnel with a steeper slope. This tunnel was full of people, bustling back and forth through it. Many of them had ornate rugs rolled up and slung over their shoulders. They hardly spared a glance to Professor Shelly and her little entourage. 

Up ahead, light shone in the end of the tunnel, and their little party emerged onto a stone platform.

Luke's jaw dropped.

He'd read about Fort Worth, of course. It was the main hub for commerce in the Wizarding communities of North America. The streetside shops and attractions alone rivaled Diagon Alley, but the thing that truly made Fort Worth famous was the Underground. Nestled beneath the city was a cavern, warded against magical detection, and filled to the brim with everything needed to serve an entire continent. It was one thing to know that it was nearly half a mile from top to bottom of the huge chamber, but another thing entirely to see it.

Seven columns, as big around as houses, stretched from floor to ceiling of the massive cave. Doors were set in them at various levels, and lights glowed from windows that showed the insides of shops. Sweeping stone walkways connected the columns to each other and to the walls. It was an entire city, laid out in a glittering, dizzying vertical latticework of stone and glass. Lanterns hung, floating, throughout the magical heart of Fort Worth, casting their golden light on the caramel-colored stone of the walkways, worn smooth by decades of foot traffic. From the walls glowed more windows, and on the floor of the cavern, buildings five and six stories tall rose up to brush the lowest of the walkways.

"Shit," someone breathed.

Ineloquent as the sentiment might have been, Luke couldn't disagree with it. He had never seen anything like Fort Worth.

"I think we lose a bit in our architecture by scattering the magical hubs all over Europe," Teddy said consideringly. "This makes Hogwarts seem a bit dull."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Fort Worth Underground is something I've had in my head for a long time. A much, much, much grander variation of it houses the entirety of a world's population in an abandoned piece I began the better part of a decade ago, but the current incarnation is exclusive to the Potterverse. The idea is that Texas is one of a few magical hubs for the Americas, and Fort Worth (or sometimes Dallas, depending on my mood at the time of writing) serves as the economic focal point of the entire region out of sheer convenience of location.  
> The cavern itself grew out of that assumption, since serving an entire continent's worth of wizards and witches and various magical creatures is an entirely different prospect from serving all of a country the size of England, which has a population dwarfed by the US alone. Add Canada, Mexico, and the various smaller nations surrounding North America into the mix and something the size of Diagon Alley and its attached areas quickly becomes overwhelmed.  
> The Fort Worth Underground is a very typically American response to the need for a convenient shopping spot. Most places, you would spread out your shopping, and that's done as well, but there's a certain drive to concentrate as much as possible into one place. 
> 
> That, and everything is bigger in Texas.


	7. Rockhouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here's the end of that monster scene.

Even Lennox Finch-Fletchley seemed impressed. 

Professor Shelly gave them a few moments to be incredibly impressed with the sheer scale of Fort Worth, and then another few moments to get used to the light and stare dumbfounded at just how gorgeous everything was, then she set off down the nearest walkway. The Hogwarts students trailed after her, and she glanced back from time to time to make sure that her tail of students was still there.

Across the walkway they went, into one of the vast columns, and inside of it, Luke goggled again. The column was hollow, with a round shaft in the middle of it, about ten feet across. A circular ledge wide enough for three people to walk abreast circled the hole, its edges guarded by bright, brassy railings. A spiral staircase wound all the way down to the bottom of the column. Witches and wizards were going up and down the stairs, and Luke thought he spotted a few goblins.

There was a single door in either wall of the hallway that led to the stairs and the ledge, and Luke could imagine that there were similar doors in the halls that cut in at odd angles to the stairs around the column. The door on Luke's right had a sign above it that read "Grayson's Greatest Liquor: Fine Liquor for Magical Effect" while the door on the left boasted, in faded lettering, "Roosevelt's Fine Wands--Since 1813."

Professor Shelly moved on before Luke could glance inside of the wand shop, though he caught himself peeking through the door of the liquor store, siezed by the sudden and unwanted urge to run in and see what was available. He told himself firmly that he wasn't going to do that, ever, but faced with the prospect of new and interesting, and most importantly, foreign ways to get drunk, it was a bit harder to convince himself.

Teddy grabbed his arm. "Come on, Luke, Professor Shelly's getting ahead of us."

It wasn't true, but Luke was grateful to him anyways. 

The staircase had the same brassy railings as the ledge, but the treads were a darker metal. Luke saw, with a start, that it wasn't bolted to the walls; it just hung unsupported. He stepped with a certain amount of trepidation onto the steps, and when the whole ponderous structure continued to stand as it surely must have for centuries (at least, if the sign by Roosevelt's Fine Wands was to be believed, a hundred and ninety-nine years).

Professor Shelly admonished them to go single-file down the stairs, and she took the inside track in the spiral. As they got further down, they passed the goblins that Luke had seen, and he was a bit surprised to recognize a house elf among them. The diminutive creature was wearing a business suit and speaking very quickly in a squeaky voice as his goblin companions nodded.

"No way," Teddy said from behind him.

"What?" Luke asked.

"That must have been Lurchy! Hermione--you remember, Doctor Weasley, in second year?--told me about him. He owns the biggest magical catering business in the Western Hemisphere."

Luke looked back at the house-elf, but Lurchy had already vanished into the crowd. It was harder to see above than below.

There were more ledges every fifty feet or so, with hallways leading off of them. Some of the shops in the column had windows that looked in onto the stairs. Looking into the windows, Luke saw everything from tailor's shops to apothecaries. About halfway down, Professor Shelly turned off onto a ledge. She ducked and weaved through the crowd, which had been thickening on the way down, and they found her waiting in front of a door in the hallway. 

The sign over the door read "American Central Portkey Hub--Serving Mexico, USA, and Canada."

Professor Shelly opened the door and they stepped in.

Once again, Luke was surprised by what he found. He knew exactly what a portkey was, of course, but he was under the impression that they were usually random, ordinary, unexciting objects, and that there certainly were no two alike.

The Portkey Hub put the lie to that notion.

Pegs protruded from the stone walls, each of them two and a half feet long. Each peg had a label on the end of it, with the name of a city or a specific location, and over each peg was slung a collection of hoops, bright gold in color, ranging in size from something like an overlarge bracelet to something that looked almost exactly like a hula hoop. As Luke watched, the forwardmost hoops on about half of the pegs glowed blue, shuddered, and winked off into the ether while the others all moved forward a bit. New hoops popped into being in the space left by the moving hoops, but not on all of them. Professor Shelly chivvied her charges aside, and a couple dozen people came down from a set of stairs at the far end of the room, some of them holding hoops. The people holding hoops searched the pegs until they found the one that, Luke guessed, matched their origin, then they slung the hoops over the pegs and to the back of the little queue of hoops. Once all the commuters had filed out past the little group from Hogwarts, Professor Shelly headed up the a counter behind which sat a bored-looking wizard with a mess of blonde hair.

"Charter to Rockpier?" Professor Shelly said inquiringly.

The wizard perked up. "Party of fifteen, charter to Rockpier! I was wondering when you would get here." He reached behind him and pulled a particularly large hoop off of a peg. "I'll need to see your identification, ma'am." His accent was almost exactly the same as Joy Dallas' accent. Luke grinned, remembering the eccentric--and very bizarre--old wandmaker who had made his own wand.

Professor Shelly pulled out her passport (there had been a lot of passport showing since they arrived), the man inspected it officiously, looked over the Hogwarts students, and handed over the portkey. 

Professor Shelly gripped it, and held it out, and as soon as everyone was holding onto the hoop, Luke felt a sharp tug somewhere behind his navel and he was hurtling through the air, spinning, trying to remember every tip he'd ever received on how to deal with portkey travel, and he was so busy remembering them that by the time he thought to implement any of them, it was too late and his knees were thudding painfully to the ground. Several of the others, including, Luke noted with a fair degree of satisfaction, Lennox Finch-Fletchley, had also failed to implement any of the tips. 

Teddy was still upright. He grinned at Luke. Luke stuck his tongue out at Teddy, but Teddy didn't respond in kind: he just stuck his hand out and helped Luke up in time for Luke to see Professor Shelly toss the portkey into the air. At the peak of its flight, it glowed blue, shuddered, and vanished, presumably back to Texas.

The air had been pleasantly warm in the portkey hub, but they were definitely outdoors, and definitely not in Texas anymore. 

Luke was shivering already, and he had to let go of his bags and hurriedly pull on his jumper, then rummage around in his checked bag for a thick winter jacket. Everyone else was doing the same.

Once Luke was bundled up, he took the time to actually look around, and his jaw dropped.

Perhaps twenty little groups like their were scattered around what looked like a fairly large parking lot, thought it lacked spaces for cars, having apparently been paved specifically for the benefit of incoming portkey travelers. As he watched, another group, this one just a tall man and three teens, all four people with the darkest skin Luke had ever seen, arrived and immediately--and with much more practiced ease than the Hogwarts group had displayed--began putting on more layers.

Snow was deep around the paved arrival area, deeper than any snow Luke had ever seen before. He could have dug a tunnel and walked through it in a few spots, although those looked like the snow had been deliberately piled up in them, shoveled off of the pavement. The rest of the snow was easily up past his knees, though.

Professor Shelly whistled. "That's impressive, even for all the way up here. Must have been a snowstorm recently." 

There was a pier nearby, and everyone was heading towards it. The Hogwarts group followed, Professor Shelly taking up the front. 

"Bloody cold, isn't it?" Teddy said.

"It must be thirty below," Luke complained, though he had a feeling it was decidedly not.

As they stepped onto the pier, a three-masted wooden ship appeared over the horizon, sailing towards them. Luke scuffed at the pier. It was a sturdy stone pier, grey and solid, jutting out over iron grey water, under a grey sky.

Luke's first glimpse of Lake Superior was not a cheery one.

Before the ship arrived, people had stopped portkeying in, and Luke watched as people swarmed busily across its deck. They were mostly shorter, with a couple of taller people obviously supervising. Students for crew, Luke could see, and teachers to supervise. 

The students wore distinctive uniforms, thick winter gear, fur-lined and shiny, lakewater rolling off of their clothes like off of a duck's back. The clothes obscured their forms with their bulk, leaving the ship populated with efficient-but-sexless crew. Dark scarves, along with their dark clothes, protected their faces and made them totally unidentifiable. 

The ship pulled gracefully up next to the pier, and a gangplank was lowered down while ropes were flung out to tie it to the pier. Seven students and a teacher came down. He was tall and thin, bundled up in a thick white cloak that reached the ground, lined with striking silver fur, cut to emphasize his height. The hood was down, leaving his proud face exposed, if somewhat reddened by the harsh cold and wind. He was completely bald, shaved, since he was too young to have lost all his hair naturally, and a thick black beard clung to his chin. He looked like the sort of man who would cheerfully fleece someone else in a poker game.

He glided up to a man who stood a little ahead of the other teachers. The man was about a head shorter than the Rockhouse teacher, with a wrinkled, lined face and a very great deal more hair than Luke had ever seen on a man before.

The bald man shook his hand. "Jonathon! So good to see you!" he cried, and pulled the man into a hug.

The Rockhouse teacher made the rounds, inviting each group individually onto the ship. While they waited, Luke looked over the ship. It looked like it might have existed for as long as Rockhouse had. "Hawthorn" was painted on the side of it, above a few portholes and, Luke was a bit surprised to see, cannon ports. He didn't think there were likely to be actual cannons inside, but then, one never knew for sure. 

The Rockhouse teacher came up to Professor Shelly.

"Headmaster Oldwing," Professor Shelly said as he shook her hand. 

"You must be Shelly Leiman," Headmaster Oldwing said. "Please, step onto the Hawthorn. Be my guest."

Professor Shelly led them onto the ship. Luke looked at the students that lined the way as they passed them. The anonymous figures reminded him of Asimovian robots, the expressionlessness imposed on them by their muffling so strange to see.

The deck was damp, but they were escorted underneath, and the hold was dry and woody-smelling, with an aura of adventure and excitement. It was also much larger than the outside of the ship indicated, and although there were well over a hundred, probably over two hundred people packed into it, there was still room for many more. Professor Shelly found a place for them all to sit, and they listened to the chattering of conversation in a plethora of different languages until the Hawthorn started moving again. Luke found a window and watched as they pulled away from the pier, but there wasn't much exciting out the window after they had left it behind, so he fell into conversation with Teddy, speculating about Rockhouse. After about an hour, some Rockhouse students came down, still bundled up, and passed out food before disappearing back up onto the deck. 

It was late at night when they arrived at another stone pier. Luke had dozed off, leaning on Teddy's shoulder, and Teddy had to shake him awake. 

The Rockhouse students escorted them off the ship onto the pier, and Luke goggled.

The pier was more a shelf of stone that stuck out from a sheer cliff face. Lights from windows glittered in the cliff for hundreds of feet above, its massive walls curving gradually away from them, so it was clear the huge rock face was a cylinder, a tower that dwarfed anything Luke had ever seen. Two other ships floated by the pier, their rigging struck for the winter, and the pier itself was easily large enough to hold every Hogwarts student with room left over for everyone currently on the pier.

"Hell," Teddy muttered. "They don't do small over here, do they?"

"Doesn't look like it," Luke said.

Headmaster Oldwing took the lead again, preceding the whole procession into the school. They quickly lost sight of him in the corridors, following the people in front of them, who followed the people in front of them, and so on until they got to Oldwing, somewhere far up ahead.

Luke had to wonder just what portion of the surrounding countryside Rockhouse served that it had to be so huge, but that was fairly idle speculation, and he was tired enough that his brain wasn't quite able to work anything out properly, so the only answer he could really come up with was a mental shrug and the conclusion that it must be a whole lot of people.

Teddy kept yawning, and he was in mid yawn when they all filed through a huge set of double doors, like the ones that led into the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and found themselves underwater.

Teddy's mouth remained wide open.

A small school of fish swam around the outside of a big glass dome, supported by a network of solid iron crossbeams. The dome was set into the rock, so that only about three quarters of it was actually underwater, which was still entirely too physcially impossible for Luke's liking. The sheer water pressure on the glass should have cracked it, left them all drowning.

Headmaster Oldwing explained that, as guests, they would all be housed in West Tower, and when he clapped his hands, students came and took their bags.

These students wore a different uniform. The cut of it was significantly more military than a Hogwarts uniform. There were no robes here, only stark lines, something like a cross between a sailor's outfit and a soldier's. The boys and the girls wore the same charcoal grey, button-up shirts, precisely pleated charcoal grey slacks, polished black boots and shiny black dragonskin belts, with their wands in holsters--real, honest-to-god holsters--on the belts. Hats topped off the uniforms, black field caps cocked on their heads with military precision. The only concession to variety was the collars, cuffs, and a ring around the bottom of the caps, which came in three colors: blue, red, and green. 

The uniforms were severe and undeniably utilitarian, but Luke had to admit that there was a certain appeal to them. 

He followed the girl who picked up his bags through more stone halls until they came to a door set into the wall, and she tapped her toe against the doorjamb. 

The door slid open to reveal a room with two beds, two closets, and a window.

Teddy shuffled in with him, and they were both asleep in minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really quite proud of the Portkey Hub. It's one of those perfectly logical little places that you imagine would have to spring up when you're dealing with that damn many people.


	8. Malik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we're getting a little bit of plot in here. Yaaay, plot!

For a few moments, coming out of a dream that had, thankfully, nothing to do with Voldemort and, not as thankfully, everything to do with Gene wearing a Rockhouse uniform... or at least, wearing part of a Rockhouse uniform... Luke wondered why in the world his bed was so hard.

His head was still clouded with wand-holsters and wholly unintended uses for dragonskin belts, and he let out an irritable grunt, then jumped about forty feet in the air when Teddy said "Something wrong?"

Luke rolled, reflexes he didn't even know he had sending his hand straight for his wand because that wasn't a voice that should be in the room where he woke up; only Runel, Wethering, and Kinsey ought to be in his dormitory.

Teddy was sitting up on his bed across from Luke, his eyes wide and his hands just coming up in front of him. "Whoah!"

Luke's grip relaxed on his wand.

"Sorry. Don't do that early morning, all right?"

"Is that how you say good morning in the dormitory?" Teddy said.

"No, I'm used to all of them waking me up with their constant talking, but you don't usually wake me up unless you're jumping on me."

Teddy shrugged. "You're fun to jump on."

Luke glared, then went to go get his clothes organized in the closet on his side of the room. As soon as they were, he pulled out his best Hogwarts uniform, laid it out on the bed, and found a note on a little stone--they seemed to mean it when they called the place Rockhouse--shelf between the beds. He read the note before passing it to Teddy.

Welcome, guests!  
We hope that you'll enjoy your time at the Rockhouse Magical Academy of North America. We here at Rockhouse appreciate that you are tired from your journey, but we ask you to keep in mind that meals are served at eight in the morning for breakfast, precisely at noon for lunch, and at six in the afternoon for dinner, and we cannot change these times. If you need a snack, the Thunder Room is open at all times to guests, but only light fare will be available outside of mealtimes.  
Since our students at Rockhouse are required to wear their uniforms at all times within the school (unless they are participating in a sporting event or using the swimming lagoon), we ask that you wear your own school uniforms if such are provided to you.  
Shower facilities are attached to your room, and come with self-cleaning towels. Please leave the towels on the rack when you are finished with them so that the charm can do its work.  
We look forward to hosting you, and wish you luck in the upcoming competition!

With welcoming regard,  
Oliver Orville Oldwing, Ed. D.,  
Principal, Rockhouse Magical Academy of North America.

Luke handed the note off to Teddy and glanced around to find the shower. It was behind a door he had missed the previous evening in the four and a half secondsd before he flopped facefirst onto the softest thing he could find.

Luke gathered up his clothes and toiletries and slipped into the shower. 

By the time Teddy was out, playing with the color of his hair and the shape of his chin as was his wont in the morning, Professor Shelly had been by to tell Luke that they had about ten minutes. He hurried Teddy out the door. "Go blue and black today, It fits with you being a Ravenclaw."

"But black is so boring," Teddy complained.

"You could go your normal color," Professor Shelly pointed out. Even she had gotten into the spirit of the uniforms, although she certainly wasn't wearing what any Hogwarts teacher would have called a real educator's outfit. Instead, she was decked out in a well-tailored shirt and a skirt in a severe cut that went down just a bit below her knees, with a thick jacket that sported the Hogwarts crest on the left breast.

Luke raised an eyebrow at her.

"You'll see," Professor Shelly said.

A Rockhouse student came to lead them to the same glass-domed room that they had been in the night before, which was now filled with tables laden with eggs, sausages, bread, cereal, and about everything else Luke could possibly be hungry for. 

He sat down, found a box of Weasley's Dragon Crunch, and immediately started working on a fireball.

"So uncreative," Teddy said, picking up several cereals that Luke had never seen before, all of which boasted some kind of magical effect, and cheerfully mixing them together in a bowl.

"You're going to explode," Luke warned him.

"They test this stuff like mad," Teddy said. He poured his milk and took a bite, swallowed, and let out a little shout of dismay.

"What is it?" Luke asked, ready to tell Professor Shelly she needed to take Teddy to a healer.

"Everything's gone upside down!" Teddy raised his arm up in front of his eyes. "I'm hanging off the bloody ceiling."

Luke blinked. "You're expected to duel like that?"

"I hope noaaugh!" Teddy shook his head. "Oh. Back to normal. Cool."

He resumed eating, and Luke rolled his eyes. "You better hope nobody hits you with a spell or something," Luke said. "You might still explode."

Teddy snorted, tossing his fork in the air and catching it. "It'd be worth it. This is really cool once you get used to it."

Luke blew a little stream of fire and finally looked around the room. Across from the doors that led into the Thunder Room was a wall with three symbols on it: a red wand, a blue cloak, and a green scroll. The dome came up from the point of the wall, so that the wall cut into the dome. The rest of the Thunder Room's floor was perfectly level, obviously not a natural formation. The supports for the dome were each about as big around as Luke's bicep, which wasn't really a stupendous size, and they looked like they were made of iron, which really made Luke wonder how they had survived being exposed to water for who knew how long, but then, the glass wasn't nearly thick enough not to crack, so he had to imagine that the whole dome was so heavily enchanted it came close to glowing at night. They weren't actually all that deep. Luke could see the surface of the lake above, only about forty feet up from the peak of the dome. He could also hear the faint sound of the waves, and he imagined that during storms it was quite the noise. Even in the relative quiet of the calmer weather they were in right at that moment, it sounded like distant thunder.

The Thunder Room itself was something like the Great Hall as Luke had once heard Professor Longbottom describe it. Professor Flitwick, apparently, was much more enthusiastic about having the Hogwarts houses cooperate with each other. Luke was used to multiple tables, both square and long rectangles, with no particular restrictions about which one you sat at based on house, but Professor Longbottom had described four tables, one for each house, and students being required to sit at the table of their house.

Rockhouse had nine tables, and no staff table. Only a few teachers were eating at tables, four were patrolling the Thunder Room, including Oldwing, who seemed to have changed into a hatless variant of the Rockhouse uniform. The tournament participants were scattered randomly in their groups throughout the room, and the Rockhouse students seemed to be grouped by the color of the trim on their uniforms. Luke looked across the table he was at and saw that every Rockhouse student he was sitting with wore blue trim. He glanced up at the wall again, and was just breathing out as much fire as he could from the Dragon Crunch when Teddy voiced the question he was thinking.

"Do you sort with the wall?"

A blue-trimmed hat tilted up and the young woman underneath its visor peered at Teddy. "What do you mean?" she asked. She had a light accent, with a vaguely French flavor to it.

"Well, I mean, the trim on your uniforms tells you which... which house you're in.

"It tells us which tower," she corrected. "Blue is North, Red is East, Green is South. On your first day, every three years, you are assigned to a tower."

"Does the wall tell you--"

"Yes." She grabbed a plate and a squeeze bottle of syrup. "We line up in front of the door of the Thunder Room, just inside." She started drawing a diagram with the syrup, a circle for the room, the door a little gap in the circle and the wall a thicker place, then put four lines parallel to the wall and pointed to them, labeling each as she went, starting with the closest to the wall. "The seven-year-olds go first, then the ten-year-olds, then the thirteens, and then the sixteens."

"Seven?" Teddy said.

"We start training early. It's a lot of chaos, and some of them haven't shown wizarding power yet. There's a debate about it in parlaiment every few years, since it can be dangerous to have undercontrolled magic all over." The young woman--she looked about eighteen and Luke had a hard time thinking of her as a girl, since that word applied someone with far less poise and sharp control than she had--shrugged. "There's lots of people who think that we should hold off until they turn eleven, since everyone would be safer. Mexico holds off until they turn ten. But since most kids have at least shown their power by six, and the Quill of Acceptance records everyone, there's no real reason not to bring them in early, especially the ones whose parents are just muddle-throughs who don't know anything about magic."

Looking around, Luke saw that there were, in fact, plenty of students around who looked way too short to be eleven years old, and therefore too young by far to have been students in Hogwarts. Luke was just thinking about how well he remembered being confused by the things he could do when he was very young when Teddy broke into his thoughts with "What in the world is a 'muddle-through'?"

Luke looked up. "Well, it's a muggle, isn't it? They just--"

"Muddle through without magic, yes," the young woman said with Luke.

"So what's the Quill of acceptance?" Luke asked.

"You do not know?" She shook her head. Teddy was giving Luke an odd look at that, too.

"It's a special quill. England's only got the one, and it's in Hogwarts, but bigger countries have got more. Records the name of every child born in the area it's charmed to keep track of who shows magical power. Salazar Slytherin's supposed to have come up with the idea and got Rowena Ravenclaw to come up with the charm to enchant the thing. They're dead useful," Teddy finished.

"Canada has seven, the United States has seven as well, Mexico keeps only four, England has only the one, France has two..." The young woman trailed off, then looked over at the wall. "Anyway, when it is your time to go to the wall, you cross a yellow line that is painted on the floor, and you are drawn to one of the symbols. Some students wander quite a bit from one to the other, but whichever you touch first, that is the tower you will go to."

"So why do you do it again every three years?" Luke asked. "And what do the symbols mean?"

"We do it every three years because people change." She shrugged. "The red wand means that you solve your problems by confronting them directly. You are unsubtle, but you value skill and a certain amount of bravery. The blue cloak means that you are inclined to wait and see how things will turn out. You are always willing to wait to move until it is most advantageous. The green scroll means that you are an intellectual. You will solve any dilemma by trying to see if it has been solved before. I was a Red when I was seven, when I was ten, I stayed a Red, when I was thirteen, I was Green, and now I am Blue."

"Can we try it?" Teddy asked.

"Of course," she said. "Almost everyone who visits does eventually."

"Not that you're not going to get Green," Luke said.

"You're getting Red," Teddy replied.

Luke shrugged. "I'd be fine with anything. Lennox is totally Blue. If Runel was here, he'd be a Red."

Teddy was about to add in his own speculation, but just then, Oldwing stepped up just in front of the wall with the symbols, pointed his wand at his throat, and spoke, his voice booming out through the Thunder Room.

"Quiet please!" As soon as everyone had fallen silent, he went on. "I am Oliver Oldwing, but, of course, for formal purposes, my students call me Doctor Oldwing, and all visiting students are encouraged to do likewise. By now, you know that I run the Rockhouse Magical Academy of North America. Since I am to play your host for the next two weeks, it falls to me to tell you about the facilities you will be enjoying. 

"First, there are the four towers. You are all housed in West Tower, which also contains most of the classrooms, and the common study rooms. Chaperones, if you would like to have your students attend classes while they are here, class lists have been provided for you. The West Tower is also topped by the air lacrosse, baseball, soccer, and quidditch fields. As cold as it is, those are all more of a parkland than an athletic field, and in this weather, we certainly won't be flying anything, but it'll be nice to have access in later sessions. 

"The North Tower has the mundane studies classrooms, in the bottom quarter, for those who need access to those learning materials. The East Tower is only dormitories, and the South Tower houses our rather extensive library, as well as the swimming pool, the indoor gymnasiums, and the observation rooms, which I highly recommend, as they do provide some lovely views."

Doctor Oldwing smiled, a bit smugly, at his own pronouncement. "Our schedule is designed to accommodate the time it will take for the losers--and the winners--of duels to recover from a full day of dueling. Today, immediately after lunch, we will begin. The youngest age group, the eight-to-twelves, will have the first round of dueling in the Main Gymnasium. Tomorrow, there will be a recess, and then we will begin the duels for the higher ages, ascending one year at a time, and ensuring the recovery of everyone who participates. There should be enough students this year in each age group to ensure a couple of good fights for all of you on each visit, providing you win, of course.

"Our referees will be arriving precisely at noon. Until then, you will all have free run of the school. Please, enjoy the facilities, but try not to disturb the Rockhouse students, as they will be studying.

"To my students and faculty: every one of our visitors is a very rare and honored guest. Treat them with respect, and be sure to give them any help they might need. Also be aware that if you encounter someone who is unfamiliar with our school, they may be lost. Ask them if they're having trouble. And remember also that these guests provide an excellent and all-too-rare opportunity to learn about other cultures and new kinds of magic. We are honored, for instance, to have Hogwarts students in our midst this year, some of whom may even remember the time of the Battle of Hogwarts itself; their chaperone certainly recalls it. Those of you in the tenth grade will likely be glad of the history lesson if they're willing to talk about it."

With that (rather lengthy) speech, Doctor Oldwing again pointed his wand at his throat and headed off towards the doors.

The young woman with the slight accent looked across the table at Professor Shelly. "Do you really remember the Battle of Hogwarts?"

"I fought in it," Professor Shelly said. "I was in the same year as Harry Potter. The Ministry of Magic gave me the bounty for bringing down Ralph Jugson. They said it was my curse that killed him, but I was working alongside Lavender Brown at the time... shame what happened to her after that. Got Greyback back for it, though. I knew a few spelldances, and a lightning bolt to the face... well, there's not a lot of people that won't stop."

"You killed him with the lightning spell?" The young woman's eyes were wide. "How good is your aim?"

"Good enough."

"She uses it in dueling," Luke said. "She did in a demonstration duel with Professor Leiman about a month ago. Put it right between them. Threw him off a bit. She almost won, but of course, it's impossible to beat Professor Leiman."

"That's not true, it's been done." Professor Shelly said.

"By some kind of a Soviet superspy, once, and he didn't really lose that one," Luke said.

"Actually, it's happened seventeen times," Professor Shelly said. "He lost a sporting duel with Professor Flitwick once, lost a sporting duel with Professor Dumbledore quite badly, and he refuses to talk about the other times, except for the time he was brought down by Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, and Bellatrix Lestrange, which he says was 'hardly sporting,' since he could barely have taken Lestrange alone. Personally, I think he's full of it on that one." She looked up at the watery light of the ceiling. "Of course, Molly Weasley brought down Lestrange in the end, so... who knows."

Luke blinked. "Still, seventeen losses in... what... seventy seven years? That's awfully impressive."

"He's seventy seven?" Teddy said. "No way."

"Maybe seventy six, maybe seventy eight," Luke said. He frowned. "Actually, I'm not sure about seventy eight... no I think he's got to be seventy six or seventy seven. He was seventy four when he took me to get my new wand after the whole... you know... Voldemort incident in first year."

The young woman's head whipped around from watching Professor Shelly, eager for more war stories, to an intent stare at Luke. She wasn't the only one.

"Are you Luke Restimen?"

Luke cringed. "Yeah."

"Do you really have..." she pointed at her forehead.

Luke blinked. "Have what?"

"A scar across your forehead like Harry Potter," a boy of about fourteen said. 

"No," Luke said. "I've got a pretty bad scar on my head from a car crash when I was small, but not a big jagged lightning bolt like Potter's got."

"But that's a--"

"It's different." Luke said, irritably. He was trying not to sound too angry, but it was difficult.

"The newspapers say you're gay," the boy said.

"Well, I've got a boyfriend," Luke began.

"Was Voldemort gay?" the boy pushed on.

"No, he just thought sex was a weakness," Luke said, and then he clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Never asked yourself that?" Teddy said sympathetically.

Luke shook his head. "Sorta surprised, honestly. Bit hard sorting through the memories."

"Is that your boyfriend?" the boy asked. Luke was starting to get pretty irritated with him, but the disgusted look he turned on Teddy took up too much of his attention to allow for a snappish reply.

"No, he's my brother."

"Well, technically, I'm his nephew," Teddy said. "But Luke isn't Uncle Bad Touch."

Luke grimaced. "Shut up, Teddy."

+----+

Professor Shelly dragged her students along to a spelldancing class. The teacher, a very large woman who went by Mrs. Leswki, was utterly delighted to have new students to teach, even if it was only for a little while, and when she learned how much the older students knew, she basically went into transports of transcendental joy, which Luke thought was a bit of an overreaction. 

The lessons Mrs. Lewski taught them, though, pardoned a lot of eccentric behavior. There were also a few students from other schools in the class, including a boy and a girl who seemed to be there with the girl's father. The girl and her father were extremely nordic, down to the almost frighteningly blonde, nearly Marissa-esque hair, but the boy was about as clearly not related as he could be. He was darker, a few shades darker than a simple tan--although a tan on the girl and her father might have proved fatal, as pale as they were--and his features were rounder, his hair jet black. None of them wore a uniform, unless the uniform from their school was drastically different for boys and for girls. 

Either way, the students were both about Luke's age, and looked about as nervous as anyone Luke had ever seen, which didn't change the fact that they were both unbelievably good at spelldances, the girl moreso than the boy. After the class was over, Professor Shelly announced that they had free time, and Luke made a beeline for the two he had spotted, overcome by curiosity.

Teddy tagged along after him, and Luke waved. "Hello!"

The girl turned around, and the boy turned a moment later, disengaging himself from a conversation with their chaperone. "Hello," he said with an accent Luke couldn't place except for being vaguely Scandinavian. 

"Hi," Luke said. "I'm Luke. Since we're supposed to be making friends here, I thought I'd say hello. Er, I'm from England. Where are you from?"

"Greenland," the girl said. "This is my father. He teaches us charms and curses and that sort of thing. Malik's grandmother teaches the potions and the history, she's very good at that sort of thing. My uncle Karl teaches us the Verdslige things. How to pass ourselves off, and how to speak English, and Spanish, and French."

Luke stuck out a hand. "You're taught by your families?"

The girl looked down at the hand and, after a few moments of hesitation, she shook it. "There are seventeen of us in Greenland. Malik and I were born three days apart. We have no big school."

"What's your name?" Teddy asked.

"Karen Broberg," she said. "My father is Johannes, and this is--"

"Malik Peterson," the boy said, reaching out to shake Luke's hand. Luke smiled. Malik seemed a bit nicer than Karen, who spoke brusquely, as though she wanted their conversation to be over the instant it began.

"Seventeen wizards and witches in all of Greenland?" Luke said. "That must be difficult."

Malik shrugged. "It is... lonely." He looked over at Karen. "It turns Karen into a hunhund," he said in a low voice.

Karen reached out to punch him, and Malik danced away from her strike, casually moving so he walked next to Luke instead of next to Karen. 

"Hunhund?" Luke said.

"Karl will not teach us the cusses," Malik said. "It is the one that means a dog."

Professor Shelly was still nearby, as were most of the others, so Luke leaned in close and muttered quietly when he said "the word you're looking for is probably 'bitch,' although I can't be sure without a translator. and I'd probably be a bit of a hunhund if I was one of two kids in the whole country, too."

Malik laughed, waggling an eyebrow at Luke. "You're from England. You must be from Hogwarts. What is it like there? Bedstemor says that there are a thousand people in Hogwarts."

"One thousand one hundred and five," Teddy said.

"And a hundred house-elves," Luke added. "It's pretty cool. I mean... you know..."

"I know cool," Malik said. "I have come to the Tournament four times. I won third place in the last one."

Luke's eyes bugged out a bit. "No shit?"

"Luke!" Professor Shelly exclaimed. "Language!"

"Still English, Professor Shelly," Teddy said. "Just a bit of French. You'll have to pardon him for that."

"Sorry," Luke said. He pointed to Malik. "Malik came in third last year!"

Professor Shelly gave Malik an appraising look. "Nothing to do in Greenland but to practice?"

Malik smiled. "Practice and mind the store. We run a grocery store in Kuummiit."

"Your family?" Luke asked. 

"No, all of the witches and wizards in Greenland. We have to stay close to each other so Karen and me can be taught. Then the new baby will have to be taught. He is my nephew." Malik smiled. "Nuka. He has my middle name for his first. I was very honored."

Luke grinned. "I bet."

"Are you Luke Restimen?" Malik asked.

Karen and her father both turned to hear the answer. Luke sighed. "Yeah."

Malik thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. "I thought you might be." He pointed ahead. "I think we will want to pay attention through this door. I hear the passages between the Rockhouse Towers are very cool."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I picked a country as randomly as I could (the first one that came up was Afghanistan, and that's a can of worms I'm not opening for the sake of fanfiction) and I got Greenland, so I started researching.  
> Greenland has a population in the tens of thousands.  
> The internet's best guess is that about one four thousandth of the population of the world would be wizards or witches in HarryPotterland.   
> This works out to about fourteen people in Greenland being witches or wizards.  
> After I got done laughing at the concept of the one very lonely little wizarding child in Greenland, attending a huge, very empty school, I got down to business and started creating the characters of Malik and Karen.  
> Karen wasn't always going to be such a hunhund, but I started writing her and she came out that way. I think she deals with the isolation differently from Malik. Malik is eager to learn new things and meet new people, and Karen is uncomfortable about the very concept of a witch or a wizard that she doesn't personally know.   
> One thing for sure, though: there's no such thing as a blood purist or a muggle-hater in Greenland. It'd be too damn hard to maintain.


	9. Professor Summers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, bedtime for bonzo

Luke looked up. He wasn't actually entirely sure where they were going, since he had been too focused on talking to Malik. There was a sign over the door Malik had pointed at. Luke read "South Tower" before they slipped through the door, and his jaw hit the floor, or at the very least, made a very serious try for it.

The passageway was entirely glass, and completely underwater. Lamps lit it, one every twenty feet or so, and a network of the same sort of iron as held up the Thunder Room provided structure. The floor had an iron mesh, and every ten feet there was a bench. Rockhouse uniforms were dotted along the passageway, some of the students diligently studying on benches, some watching the fish that gathered around the light, some hurrying busily from one tower to the next. Luke gaped around. Off in the distance, mostly obscured by the water, were other passages. Luke counted five of them, dotted lines, some barely visible for the distance. The bulk of the towers themselves wasn't visible, but even that wasn't totally consistent. West Tower behind them glittered here and there with light, and South Tower up ahead had its share of glowing rooms as well. The other towers weren't alight enough to be outlined in the murky water, but even at a distance, they loomed imposingly, even the distant East Tower.

They traveled in a silence imposed by the oppressive grandeur of the passageway. Luke was certain this was one sight he would never forget.

When they finally finished the crossing from one tower to the next, it was Lennox Finch-Fletchly who broke the silence. "Professor Shelly, why is this place so big?"

"Well, they've got about three times the students Hogwarts does," Professor Shelly said, "but the people who designed American schools of magic were... innovators, too. I think Rockhouse was supposed to be able to house most of the magical population of the United States at the time it was built, in case there was ever some need to gather everyone in one place."

"Hell," Teddy hissed. More loudly, he said, "all of them?"

"I think so," Professor Shelly said. 

Luke shook his head. That explained the extras capacity, and probably why Rockhouse had been chosen to host the tournament, but it was still blisteringly insane.  
Up ahead, the Broberg's turned, apparently following the people in front of them. Luke watched, and when Professor Shelly turned after them, he followed, happy to be able to stick close to his new friend.

Before too long, they found themselves in what had to be one of the observation rooms Doctor Oldwing had mentioned.

There were couches, and reading lamps, and a few semi-private nooks and crannies spread around the room the size of the Slytherin common room, but the main feature of the room was undoubtedly the wall that looked out into the waves. They had gone up a few flights of stairs, and the room was split almost exactly in half between above the waterline and below it. Only the occasional fish darted into view, but fish weren't the main attraction here. Luke stepped up to the glass and stared through it, listening to the sussuration of the water on the other side of the thin barrier. Beside him, on one side, was Teddy, on the other side was Malik, and all around, other guests to Rockhouse were doing the same, feasting their eyes on the most of rockhouse they had seen at once so far. 

Each of the towers was prodigious, but the West Tower was definitely the largest, soaring at least twenty stories into the air, and about half the size across that it reached above the waves. South Tower, where they stood, could have been larger, Luke supposed, but he doubted it pretty strongly. North Tower was about two thirds the hulking size of West, lower and squatter, and East was only half the size of North.

Of the three towers they could see, only West had anything on top of it, a few barely visible glimmers of shapes. Luke would have loved to be in a higher observation room, to get a look at what, for instance, an air lacrosse field looked like. He had never played the game, but what few rumors he had heard about it suggested that it made quidditch seem like a reasonable, well-thought-out sport in which no one was likely to be hurt.

There was snow on top of all the towers, and some ice floated between them. Off to the west, beyond West Tower, storm clouds were gathering, promising that the Thunder Room would be appropriately thunderous by that night.

"Wow," Malik said after a long time. "I think they have topped Galapagos School of Witchcraft."

"I didn't know there was anything this bloody huge," Teddy said. There were tones of consternation in his voice, as though the sheer size of Rockhouse was obliquely offensive to him. Luke could understand. It was, after all, a school built to be able to house an entire nation.

Finally, Professor Shelly peeled her charges off the wall, and she took the first and second years off to talk strategy after warning the others not to wander off and not to monopolize the window. Luke and Teddy wandered off with Malik. Karen cast an irritable look after them. Irritable looks seemed to be her default type of look.

Teddy stuck his tongue out at Karen as the three of them found a couch and flopped onto it.

"So what age category are you in?" Teddy asked.

"I'm fourteen," Malik said.

"We'll be competing, then," Luke said. "Teddy, you take him first. I don't want to tangle with last year's third place winner."

Malik grinned at Luke. "Afraid you're not good enough?"

"Afraid you know how to make it hurt," Luke replied. "If I had the muscle memory as well as the... you know, the brain memory from Voldemort, I'd be the only one Hogwarts needs in this tournament. I'd be taking on everyone and winning hands down. Instead, I've only got a few of his tricks that I can remember how to do. I remember everything until he tried to kill Harry Potter the first time, but a lot of it is... fuzzy, and indistinct. Some reflexes, a few spells... I'm a Parselmouth."

"You're what?" Malik said.

"He can talk to snakes," Teddy said. "Really Slytherin."

"I thought that was only a story, that the English could do that," Malik said.

"Mostly it is," Luke said. "It's not exactly guaranteed to make you popular, since most of the people who could do it were some kind of dark wizard, and it's really only in one   
family that it happens, unless you've got a soul connection to Voldemort. Potter can do it, too. I don't do it very often."  
"Don't you lose it if you don't speak a language often?" Malik asked.

"It's a magical language," Luke explained. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to make the switch, and hissed in Parseltongue, _"it's impossible to lose your knowledge once you have it."_ He shrugged at Malik's surprised expression. "I'll be as fluent the day I die as I am now."

Malik stared at Luke. "That is very cool."

Luke shrugged, blushing. "It's not, really. I mean, it's nothing I worked on--"

"Neither is this," Teddy said, changing his hair from blue and black to bright, flourescent pink. "But that's still cool."

"Knock it off, Teddy," Luke advised him.

"That is incredible!" Malik shouted, and their conversation pretty much instantly devolved into Teddy showing off for an ever-growing crowd of curiosity seekers.  
It was nearly an hour later that a boisterous, dark male voice turned their heads.

"Shelly Fletcher! Is that really you?"

Luke and Teddy turned as one to see Professor Shelly turn and yell, in about as little-girlish a tone as Luke had ever heard from her, "Professor Summers!" She hugged an aging, shaved bald man about four times the size of West tower with every last bit of enthusiasm she seemed to possess in her entire body. He looked like carefully tan leather stretched over seventeen tons of muscle. Professor Shelly pretty nearly vanished in his enthusiastic embrace. From somewhere within the depths of Professor Summers' arms, Professor Shelly said, "it's Leiman, though, Professor Summers."

"Oh, no," Summers said. "You actually went and married that little... ah... uncouth person?"

Professor Shelly chuckled as she extricated herself from Professor Summers' grip. "Yes, I did. We were very happy for about six months, and then he discovered that having a daughter really cut into his womanizing time, and I discovered that Andrew was worse at families than I was at following rules. We've been separated for twelve years."

Professor Summers grinned lopsidedly, then tweaked the lapel of Professor Shelly's jacket. "And you brought out the old Rainpath uniform. But I see you've defiled it with that Hogwarts badge. I always said Dumbledore stole my best student."


	10. Dueling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the first two rounds of the dueling tournament. I will fully admit that the schedule bows very heavily to the dramatic needs of the story, but it's also incredibly fun to write. Given only a modicum of excuse, I would do very little besides write Luke dueling.

Professor Shelly just smiled. "Oh, I was never your best student."

"Said the Hogwarts professor," Professor Summers said. "Come on now, Shelly, modesty doesn't become you."

Professor Summers' students had been filing in behind him while he spoke with Professor Shelly, and they stood behind him in two neat, well-disciplined rows. Luke couldn't imagine enjoying attending an American school if everyone had to be so organized and disciplined all the time. The Rainpath uniforms were the same as what Professor Shelly was wearing for the girls. The boys wore pressed, flawlessly-tailored trousers, and everyone wore hats, either flatcaps or fedoras.

Professor Summers gestured to his students, and they went to go and watch out the window while his conversation with Professor Shelly continued more quietly. Professor Shelly wasn't a small woman, but next to Summers, she looked diminutive. It was strange for Luke to see one of his favorite teachers looking so small.

+----+

They spent most of the rest of the morning in the observation room. When lunchtime came, Malik convinced Karen, and therefore Johannes, to sit with the Hogwarts students while he continued to drill Luke with questions about Hogwarts and England and Luke returned the favor with questions about Greenland.

After lunch, it was time for the first and second years to have their first round of duels. Malik and Karen both went to go and get a lesson in with the Rockhouse potions teacher, which left Luke and Teddy to watch the younger students duel. There were a lot more students in that age category than in any of the others, and at first Luke wondered if the afternoon was long enough to really get anything accomplished, but then he saw the way they were dueling.

Luke's doubts went away.

"Were we really that terrible?" Luke asked Teddy as they watched from behind a magically-reinforced window into the gymnasium where the Hogwarts first and second years were dueling. There were four other rooms full of duelers, but they weren't watching those.

"Probably," Teddy said. "They go by awfully quick, don't they?"

"And they're all using the disarming jinx," Luke said with a certain measure of distaste. "Doesn't anyone teach stunners to their--oh, no." 

One of the Hogwarts students had just been blasted off his feet by a particularly well-performed jinx, and his wand had landed squarely in his opponent's hand.

"Well, he's out," Teddy said.

"Very out," Luke said.

+----+

The day the fourteen-year-olds were to compete, Luke got a letter from Gene, and one from Marissa as well, and Teddy got letters from Victoire and Marissa, and one that he refused to show to Luke, but which Luke assumed was from a girl by the way he kept reading it over and over.

Marissa's letters to Luke and Teddy were effectively identical, replies to the letters they had sent her and wishes for them to do well in the tournament. Gene's letter was about as mushy as anything Luke had ever read, which he couldn't help smiling at, and included a photograph which Luke tucked away for safekeeping someplace Teddy wouldn't find it. Luke had been surprised that he was willing to send it in a letter. Gene must have been missing him more than he thought.

After breakfast, Malik vanished with Karen and Johannes, so Luke and Teddy went off to practice with some of the spelldances they'd been learning.

By lunch, they both felt ready, and, with Professor Shelly's instructions firmly in mind, they ate lightly and loaded up on carbohydrates. Malik sat down across from Luke and eyed him throughout the meal, then walked with them to the gymnasium. "Do you think that we will face each other?" he asked.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Are we rivals, then?"

Malik grinned. "Do you want to be my rival?"

Luke warmed to the game and shot back, "that depends. What would my rivalish duties be?"

"I think you would have to be an opponent I am afraid of, and then I would overcome you." Malik's grin turned into a smirk. "Can you be scary?"

"Ooga booga," Luke said.

They weren't facing each other, as it turned out. Malik took his first round before Luke did, and Luke was grateful for that. The schedule called for two duels a day, and looking at the duelers, it was immediately obvious that recovery wasn't going to be quite so easy it was in Dueling Club. During the Hogwarts tournament to see who was going to come to Rockhouse, Luke had experienced a bit of what was in store, but the people he was going to be facing went for the throat. Two duels in a day was about all he could be expected to manage, and that was the pace being set. Suddenly it made sense that a true dueling tournament took weeks, and that they had split the academic competition into four two-week outings. Any less, and Luke was pretty sure there would have been permanent injuries.

But Malik stood out.

Most of the duels in front of Luke were hard, brutish, and a bit desperate. The way his new friend moved, Luke expected Malik to be effective, but a little awkward in a duel, but he wasn't at all. Even the careful movements Luke had seen him use in spelldancing lessons were gone, replaced by a shocking grace that wasn't at all what Luke would have predicted from the other boy. Malik flowed from position to position with a a fluidity that put Luke in mind of Professor Shelly at her best, and his opponent, a tough-looking boy who had changed into a professional duelist's outfit for the competition, went quickly from cocky to concerned to very thoroughly unconscious. Malik used the boy's choice of clothing against him, exploiting the quirks of flexibility that the more protective outfit suffered from. 

After Malik's opponent was down, he had to wait a good five minutes before the others were done and he could come and watch the next round, and of course, then Luke was up, and he couldn't talk to the other boy beyond a quick "that was amazing" as they passed each other.

Luke's opponent turned out to be a very nervous-looking girl in swishy, loose clothes that Luke recognized as a Beauxbatons uniform. 

The look she turned on him was definitely one of fearful recognition. Luke rolled his eyes. "Even if I were inclined to go mad and start killing people, this would hardly be the place to do it," he said. "And besides that, Professor Shelly knows me better than anyone who writes the news stories you've obviously been reading, and she doesn't think I'm going to lose it, plus I've been in Dueling Club at Hogwarts since it got started, and if I haven't killed anyone in three years, then I'm not bloody likely to start with you."

This didn't seem to reassure the girl, so Luke added, "and besides, if that was my intention, you'd be better served by winning the duel than by shaking like a leaf, so there's no reason to go acting like a frightened mouse anyways."

The Beauxbatons girl muttered something in French, and then one of the referees blew a whistle.

Luke snapped into a defensive posture, silently casting a rebound shield that could throw just about any spell back at and attacker. The girl did the same thing, and for a few, comical moments, they just stared at each other, then Luke dropped his shield and, speaking quietly, he snapped out, "Eructor Lithis," and a thin layer of stone burst out of the floor in front of him. The girl's stunner smacked into the stone, but Luke was barely paying attention. That barrier was no hindrance to a proper witch, and he had only a few seconds. He threw himself into a spelldance.

"Oconomo pono esiki manaasa cempati!" Luke cried, keeping the words in rhythm with the movements of his feet and sweeping his wand around in front of him as he cast, just as the Rockhouse spelldance instructor had suggested.

She'd been right. The spell rolled naturally off of his tongue, and the pair of black cats that jumped down out of thin air as if they'd always been there were both larger and healthier-looking than they had ever been before, each one about as long from tip of nose to tip of tail as Luke was tall. Just as he finished the spell, his stone barrier splintered under the French girl's reductor curse, and Luke's spirit-cats went bounding through the hole, one leaping high and the other staying low. The girl fired a stunner at one of the cats, but the other simply leapt over its partners fading form and landed with both feet on the girl's chest. She went over, and, to Luke's surprise, she rolled, instead of sliding, planting her feet on the cat's stomach. Luke fired off a stunner, but it glanced off of a shield, and the girl came up with her wand towards him. Luke kept up the pressure, casting stunners as fast as he could, and his cat stood and charged the girl. She kicked out at it, but she missed, and the cat wrapped its jaws around her leg--gently, Luke thought through his magical link with the summoned animal--and yanked her to the ground.

The girl fell with a sharp yelp, and the instant she hit the floor, she yelled "mucuvesperta!"

Luke tried to duck, but the spell hit him square in the face. Fortunately, his stunner hit home a moment later, and as his own mucus came crawling out of his head to attack him in the form of a colony of bats. Luke yelled and panicked for a moment or two before he recalled his wits and cast the charm to end the attack of the bats. He rubbed at his nose. He'd only been hit with the bat-bogey hex once in his life, but the worst part had certainly remained consistent: the creatures made a none-too-gentle exit, and he was bleeding profusely. Combined with the abrupt dryness of his nose, it was almost impossible to stop the bleeding quickly and efficiently. He dismissed his spirit-cat and immediately revived his opponent. She yelled, and Luke bent down next to her.

"Hold on. I'll help." 

"Get away from me," she quailed, but Luke ignored her and cast a quick healing charm on her leg. She looked at him, and then at her leg, and then up at Luke again. 

Luke raised an eyebrow, and with a great deal more dignity than he thought he could put into the gesture, he pinched his nose to cut off the flow of blood.

The girl raised up her wand, whether defensively or to hep him, Luke neither knew nor cared. He was already standing up and walking away from her.

When he got back to the observation room and Professor Shelly patched him up, Luke watched Teddy utterly trounce his own opponent--it was absolutely no contest--and sat with Malik. 

"You should have had your cat bite down," Malik said. "She would have dropped her wand. The fight would have been over."

"She'd also have a broken leg and be spreading stories about how heartless and cruel I am," Luke said. "She wasn't good. I beat her easily enough without doing terrible damage."  
Malik blinked, clearly realigning his thoughts to fit with what Luke had said.

"Do they play politics like that all the time at Hogwarts?"

"I do."

After Teddy had his turn and came back, Karen went up. She destroyed pretty thoroughly as well while Luke, Teddy, and Malik talked about Rockhouse, and then Malik was up again. Luke let out a yawn. "I wonder what time it is."

"It's nearly four," Professor Shelly said. "We'll be getting dinner pretty soon."

"He really is pretty relentless out there, isn't he?" Teddy said.

Luke looked up. Malik had just deflected a bright blue variant of the standard stunning spell straight up into the wall and was marching forward, sending lashes of bright green energy across the field at the boy he was dueling, pushing him...

"There it goes," Teddy said.

The boy had just stepped into an out-of-bounds disqualification. Malik tossed his wand in the air and caught it when the referee called the victory for him.

"Well, he's a bit smug," Teddy said.

"He's earned it," Luke said.

Malik came back in after his match to find that Teddy had sprouted a long, flourescent yellow beard in his absence. Luke stood up, and Malik started making requests for different facial hair while Luke got up and headed out to the gymnasium. They were still repairing the floor when he got in, but it was fixed by the time he got to his place and faced off against a boy in a sleeveless shirt with his wand held in a strap across his chest.

"All right, let's go," the boy said in a thick Australian accent. Luke watched him draw his wand. "Think you can take me, little Voldy? Think you're tough? Well, let's see what you're made of!"

They both sketched a little bow as the referees got ready to start the match, and then the whistle blew and Luke ducked down.

"Accio shoe!" Luke shouted as a rush of hot sand flew over his head. The Australian let out a startled cry and went over backwards as his right shoe pulled off of his foot. Luke caught the (somewhat smelly) footgear and tossed it back behind his head, then hit the prone boy with a stunner. He stood up, walked calmly to the figure of the other boy, and revived him.

The Australian's eyes opened and he let out a low, pained groan. Luke summoned his shoe and laid it gently on his chest.

"I believe that's yours."

"That's not fair," the boy objected.

Luke looked up to where the referee assigned to watch their match was laughing. "The ref seems to think it is." He looked down at the boy's stockinged foot. "You might want to put that shoe on, your foot's gonna get cold."

They were there for another ten minutes, during which the Australian boy fumed under his breath and Luke hummed tunelessly and pretended not to hear him. He applauded once or twice at particularly good moves by those around him, and noted a few people to watch. When everyone was done and Luke was allowed back out of the gymnasium, he found Teddy doubled over with laughter, Malik looking genuinely impressed, and Professor Shelly talking in excited but quiet tones with a Rockhouse teacher. She gestured occasionally towards the gymnasium, and Luke smiled cheerily before he sat down next to Malik.

"That was amazing," Teddy said, gesturing with an imaginary wand at an imaginary foe, and reaching up to catch an imaginary shoe. "I've never seen you end a duel that quick!" His hair had gone its natural color, and Luke just accepted the praise with serene calm. Teddy placed the imaginary shoe on his imaginary foe's chest and started laughing even harder.

"That was... well done," Malik said.

"That was bloody incredible and you know it," Luke said. "I had to humble him somehow, he was acting a real tool."

"It will not work again," Malik said. "Even now, everyone is thinking of a way to counter it."

Professor Shelly clapped a hand on Luke's shoulder. "He's right, Luke, but that was well done. Save that trick Professor Leiman used on me last year for when you really need it, though."

Luke chuckled at the memory of Professor Shelly dressed like a character facing a firing squad in an old American Western. "That was a pretty great trick," Luke said.

Professor Shelly rolled her eyes. "Not as great when you have to deal with students deciding to imitate him in the corridor."

Luke chuckled again at the memory of Heironymous Runel in a massive clown's wig and enormous shoes. Professor Shelly never had found out who did that.

She waved Teddy into the gymnasium. Teddy used the trick before anyone had the chance to figure out a defense against it. That whole round went by pretty quickly, in fact. Two pairs actually did it to each other with such perfect timing that they both fell over and had to duel normally anyways, which made both Luke and Malik burst out laughing. When the two pairs that actually dueled were done, everyone came back in. 

The next time someone tried it, they made the mistake of trying it on Karen.

She had already loosened her shoes, and she jumped. Her left shoe flew off, and she kicked her right straight at her opponent and used a banishing charm on it. The boy who had tried to get clever on her hadn't ducked, for which he had Luke's sympathy; he took a fairly chunky boot directly to the groin, doubled over, and was systematically taken apart by a series of hexes that culminated in Karen plucking his wand out of his hand without magic. Luke, Teddy, and Malik, along with pretty much every other boy in the room, let out hisses of sympathetic pain, but Karen had adequately demonstrated how to defeat the tactic. With her round finished, the tournament was over for Luke and Teddy for that visit, and without much in the way of lasting damage, although a couple of other students were still smoking at the ears, and one girl seemed to be struggling to keep her hair from strangling her.

"You know," Malik said, "I think you won this time, Luke. It was a very cool move."

Luke didn't bother pretending to be modest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how about that shoe trick, huh? Luke really should have saved it for later, it would have come in handy at some other time, and by the next time he duels in the tournament, everyone is going to have a million and one ways to counter it.


	11. In Which Malik Gets the Better of Teddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord, this thing is shaping up long.

Luke stared at the wall across from him.

He and Teddy, along with Malik and a few of the other Hogwarts students, had finally gotten bored enough to try sorting themselves into one of the Rockhouse towers. A couple of Rockhouse students had definitely been involved in this decision, egging them on for two days after their first round of the tournament. Since there was about a week to go still before they all went home until the second set of duels, and since Luke could think of nothing better to do, and since he wanted to impress Malik (Luke was man enough and most certainly self-aware enough to admit to a little bit of a crush, though he wasn't going to admit it to Gene), Luke had basically led the charge to the Thunder Room.   
And it was definitely thundering. The third storm of the last week was raging overhead, and the waves were roaring merrily at them. Libby Pennyshire, one of the fifth years who was standing with Luke and Teddy and all the others, gave yet another very, very loud hiccup, and a moth flew out of her mouth.

"Dammit," she growled. She'd been cursed with a pretty nasty spell in her first round duel and had to go through the second round with bugs flying out of her mouth every few seconds. That she had won was a testament to her abilities, and that the curse was still a very unpleasant affliction was a testament to her opponent's abilities.

Malik stunned the moth and vanished it with a flick of his wand.

Luke took a deep breath. "All right. No more delaying," he said. He looked down at the yellow line in front of him, delayed for about thirty seconds more--this should not make him so nervous--and stepped across it.

He started walking towards the red wand painted on the wall.

It was, Luke reflected calmly, a bit like being drunk. His feet didn't want to obey his will, and thoughts drifted randomly through his head.

He was, he knew, brave enough, but was that really his defining quality? He veered towards the green scroll, but really, he wasn't quite that bookish. The red wand hove back into his path, but charging headlong into his problems was so against his nature. Even the Chocolate Frog Incident in first year (Luke winced at the memories of Mark associated with thoughts of the incident. It was a shame the memory was tainted by association with something unpleasant, since he doubted he would ever get to pop Runel in the nose again) had been something of a calculated move on his part, since he hadn't been able to outfight Runel in a duel at that point.

Luke's hand met stone, and he found himself touching the blue cloak.

"Really?" Teddy said from behind Luke.

"Are you really surprised?" Luke called back to him.

"A bit, yeah. You're not exactly..."

"I am a Slytherin," Luke said, though he was a bit surprised it had been cloak and not scroll. He walked off to the side, and Teddy stepped forward. 

If it had been strange to make the walk, it was even stranger to watch. Teddy's expression became a bit glazed, and he staggered twice towards the red wand, then made a beeline for the green scroll.

Libby hiccuped another bug, then crossed over the line. She was a Hufflepuff. Luke assumed she would be a red wand, but instead, she weaved back and forth for almost two minutes before she pressed her hand against the blue cloak.

Lennox Finch-Fletchley didn't hesitate in the slightest, although his persistent limp (Luke hadn't been sorry about Lennox's lingering curse-damage from his duels in the least) slowed him on his path to the cloak.

The last two Hogwarts students were both Gryffindors, and both ended up at the red wand, although one of them took even longer than Libby had.

Finally, it was Malik's turn. The Rockhouse students cheered him on, and Malik stepped over the line. Luke watched him like a hawk, and Malik slowly started towards the wall. He drifted left, towards the red wand, and then right, towards the cloak, but there was really very little doubt in Luke's mind, and his expectations were nicely fulfilled when Malik fetched up with his hand on the red wand. He walked over to join Luke and the Hogwarts students, and their Rockhouse hosts applauded. 

"It feels odd to have something sort me without it singing a song first," Teddy said.

"Well, it's an odd way to get sorted anyway," Lennox Finch-Fletchley said.

"I like it," Luke said. "Makes you figure it out for yourself. Sort of. Makes you be honest with yourself."

"So," the ringleader of their Rockhouse hosts, a mischievious-faced boy of eighteen named Matthew, said. "Now that you're all initiated, it's time we told you of The Legend." The way he said it, it was obvious that The Legend was capitalized. Matthew found a table and sat down. It wasn't after curfew, but it was definitely late, and the secretive air Matthew wrapped around himself suggested that their meeting was taking place at one in the morning, rather than at the much more reasonable hour of eight. He sat where he obviously knew the lighting would be dramatic, and, leaning into the shadows, he watched them with eyes that caught the light just enough to be two bright points in the darkness. Luke didn't know if Rockhouse had a drama department, but if it did, he was pretty sure Matthew would be its king.

"How many of you have heard of Al Capone?"

Luke's hand went up. So did one of the Gryffindors', but nobody else reacted.

Matthew moved on like he was following a preordained script. "Even the mundanes know about Capone. They think he was just a very skillfull criminal, but of course, he was a wizard. His parents were mundanes, but Capone was a very powerful wizard. A powerful wizard, and bad to the bone."

Matthew's smile glowed in the darkness. He looked like a jack-o-lantern with the light catching eyes and teeth and little else. The lake thundered lously overhead. "Capone started a campaign of crime and destruction. You Brits had Voldemort, but we had Capone. He wasn't evil with the depth that Voldemort achieved, but the sheer scale of his crimes was staggering. He held wizarding America in an iron grip, his followers were the most feared names in the country, and everyone truly believed that Al Capone would one day topple even the president.

"They said he was immortal. They said he couldn't be beaten. They said he had more money and power than any ten men. So they put a special group of aurors on his tail. Elliot Ness and his team fought off Capone's organization for years, and eventually, they won, and Capone was sent to Alcatraz.

"But Capone learned right here. He sat at these very tables in his youth, touched the red wand four times, began the work of gathering his followers right in these halls." Matthew leaned forward. "And they say he left something behind. They say he raised up a fifth tower, a secret place attached to Rockhouse, a place that was all his own. They've searched for it for years, but no one ever finds it, and yet, the signs are there, the clues that it must exist, if you just look for it. But what does Capone's Tower contain? Does his ghost haunt its halls? Did he leave a stash of money, or secret knowledge, or some powerful artifact? No one knows. No one even knows if Capone's Tower exists, but if it does... whoever finally finds it will almost certainly find wealth and fame within. They only need to be brave enough..." Matthew smiled viciously, "to try."

There was a long pause, and then Lennox Finch-Fletchley said "You're shitting with us."

"Not about Al Capone," Luke said. "That part was all true. He even went to Rockhouse. I'm not sure about the idea of him raising up a whole tower out of nothing. Even Voldemort   
would have been hard pressed to do that." He tapped the side of his head. "Believe me, I know."

Matthew rolled his eyes, and the spell of melodrama was broken. "As though your dark lords are any better than ours. Maybe Capone was more powerful than Voldemort."

Luke shook his head. Obviously, Matthew wasn't at all intimidated by him. "No, he wasn't. That's what made Voldemort so awful. Nobody could beat him because he was just too powerful."

"You're not exactly an unbiased source, boyo," Matthew said.

Luke grunted. This argument obviously wasn't going to go anywhere, so he let it go. Matthew waited for a challenge in response, and when he didn't get it, he leaned back into his chair like normal for a few seconds, then he stood up, and, quietly, almost too quiet to be heard over the noise of the waves overhead, he said "I think I'm going to head to bed. Don't you all stay up too late."

The other Rockhouse students left with him, and after a while, Teddy snorted. "I'm not sure who Al Capone was, but there's no way he was more powerful than Voldemort."

"Not a chance," one of the Gryffindors agreed. 

"Ridiculous notion," Lennox Finch-Fletchley confirmed. 

Luke couldn't help laughing. "We are a bit proud of our dark lords, aren't we?"

Malik grinned at Luke from a little way down the table. "Voldemort was British. Obviously, it is that you want him to be the best at what he did."

"That's absolutely true," Luke said.

+----+

They got replies to their return letters to Hogwarts a couple of days later. The seventh years were facing their first and second rounds that afternoon, and they all looked a bit green as they read their own letters from home. One of the sixth years had been hit with a misperformed curse and was literally coughing her guts up every few minutes. Professor Shelly stayed with the poor girl in the Rockhouse infirmary, and she was getting better, but it was a slow process, and right then, nobody knew for sure if she would be able to come back to Hogwarts with the rest of the club or if she would need extra time to recuperate.

Teddy read the letter he got from Victoire and immediately stopped paying attention to what was going on around him.

"She's twelve, Teddy," Luke teased, although, privately, he thought that Teddy and Victoire were probably destined to be married. Visions of a wizarding, somewhat friendlier and more prank-oriented Bonnie and Clyde tended to skip through his head when he pictured them together.

"I'm not pining," Teddy said.

Luke grinned.

"Pining?" Malik said.

"Oh, Teddy is hung up on our friend Victoire," Luke said cheerfully. "I think it's because she's one-eighth Veela."

Teddy turned red, and immediately darkened his skin tone enough to cover it.

"What does pining mean?" Malik asked.

"It's... um... well, it's sort of a hopeless... um... well, imagine... imagine you were in love with... uh..." Luke pointed across the table. "With Libby. But she didn't feel the same way. When you left and went back to Greenland, and she went back to Hogwarts, you would be pining after her."

Teddy was slowly turning his normal color again. 

"Then there is no hope for Teddy?" Malik asked.

Luke shrugged. "Well, Victoire has got a huge crush on him, and he's definitely got a huge crush on her, but Teddy is fourteen, and she's twelve. They want different things out of a relationship." Luke shrugged. "Give it a few years, and they'll be snogging each other's brains out at Platform Nine and Three Quarters."

"What is Platform Nine and Three Quarters like?" Malik asked abruptly.

Luke shrugged. "It's a bit crowded. I like it, though. The people are all so happy to see each other at the start of the school year, and when we're going home for the summer, there's people promising to write, and to see each other, and you can really see who's made friends and everyone is so happy to see their..." Luke trailed off.

"Their families," Teddy said. Luke looked up. Teddy had reverted back to his natural appearance, and he hugged Luke. "And you get to see your family on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, too." Teddy was blushing almost as much as when Luke had teased him about Victoire, but he held determinedly on to Luke.

Luke hugged him back. He sniffed, but didn't bother trying not to tear up, just let them fall onto Teddy's robe. "I know. It's just..."

After a minute or two, Teddy let go and pretended not to notice when Luke wiped his eyes.

Malik reached up and rubbed Luke's shoulder. "It must be very hard, sometimes."

"It is," Luke said. "But I'm all right. Can't just stick your head in the sand and ignore it. Believe me, I know. I tried."

Malik squeezed Luke's shoulder sympathetically, then returned to his meal.

Luke was fine by the time Professor Shelly dragged them off to spelldancing lessons. Mrs. Lewski bounced cheerily up to the front of the class. "Today, we will begin learning the Rain Dance!" she announced with typical, boiling-over-teakettle enthusiasm. "The Rain Dance, is, of course, one of the worst-kept secrets to the mundane world, and also one of the most powerful pieces of magic anyone can perform, but you will need a partner. One of you will be performing the central spell, and the other will be directing it to where it is wanted. Everyone please choose their partner now."

Luke looked over at Teddy, but was immediately seized from behind by Malik. He turned around. Malik had schooled himself into a look of desperation. "Do not make me work with Karen."

"Hunhund?" Luke said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hunhund," Malik confirmed.

Luke chuckled and he and Malik worked together, which meant that Teddy was stuck with Lennox Finch-Fletchley, which Luke thought was hilarious. Luke and Malik, though, worked together very well. Not that they managed to do more than conjure a light fog, but it was a very nice fog, anyways. The Rain Dance was difficult and demanding, and they were all pleasantly exhausted when they left the lesson. Luke, Malik, and Teddy told Johannes and Professor Shelly where they were going, then headed for the uppermost observation room in South Tower. South was a little taller than West Tower, but nowhere near as wide, so they got a good view of the athletic fields on top of West Tower. 

Teddy found a big, comfy-looking chair and flopped gratefully into it, letting his appearance revert to red hair and his natural-born features. Luke claimed a couch and sprawled as all over it as he could. Malik grabbed Luke's left leg, lifted it, sat where it had been, and calmly placed it back down, now in his lap. Luke shrugged and stretched out so both of his feet were resting on Malik's lap.

"Do you suppose Al Capone's Tower really exists?" Teddy said. He was looking out the big window. Because of the climb it took to reach it, the room was mostly empty, just a few Rockhouse students studying intently. The weather outside had gone stormy again, and November was screaming at the window, unheard in the security of the tower while it whipped the waves into a fury below.

"I doubt it," Luke said. "I don't think anyone could have raised a whole tower alone like that."

"It might not have been done alone," Malik pointed out. He started toying with the hem of Luke's robe and cast a speculative look out the window at the storm. "Matthew said that Al Capone got followers. Perhaps they helped to raise the tower."

"Then where is it?" Luke asked.

"Hidden, obviously," Teddy replied. "I would have hidden it."

"Oh, please. If you raised a tower even half as good as these with a hundred people to help you, you'd put up a big neon sign on it and hire a band to sing your praises at the grand opening."

"Not if I was a criminal looking to hide things," Teddy pointed out as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Luke rolled his eyes. "No, but you'd still tell people. Come on, Teddy, you are ninety percent imp of the perverse by volume."

"Imp of the perverse?" Teddy and Malik chimed together.

"That feeling like you've just got to do something even though you know it's wrong, just to see what happens, or just to make people think you're clever, or cool. Most people ignore it, but some people, for instance, steal a teacher's entire stack of howlers and pull ridiculous pranks with them."

"What pranks can you do with a howler?" Malik asked curiously.

"There's loads you can do," Teddy exclaimed, suddenly sitting up.

Luke settled a bit more comfortably into the couch. Malik patted his leg. "You can change the runes on them, change the voice they use, make them not sound angry... we actually made them do all sorts of things. Got one to turn into an origami dragon that flew all around the great Hall, turned four of them into a little band that sang a song... it was pretty great."

"It is runes? They work on runes?" Malik looked surprised.

Luke nodded. "I suspect it's the only way they could make it work. The enchantments on a howler aren't like the wards around Hogwarts or something like that. Wards are simple, but those enchantments are hard. All they have to do with runes, though, is print and enchant."

Teddy was silent for a moment, and without him to keep it going, the conversation petered out into a comfortable silence until Malik very casually stole Luke's right shoe.  
Luke almost objected, but Malik started hovering the shoe with a silent charm, and slowly worked it over to Teddy, who wasn't paying attention to what was going on. He waved his wand, and apparently cast a duplication charm, because a veritable downpour of shoes rained down on Teddy. Teddy yelled and flailed while Luke broke down laughing and Malik stopped his replication charm. Teddy sat up, still buried under shoes, and Malik let the original shoe drop onto his head.

Luke was in tears, he was laughing so hard. 

"Oi!" Teddy said, and he threw a shoe at Malik. Malik caught it, used it to deflect the next one, and took the third in the chest.

Luke was sitting up by then, and he watched as Teddy and Malik devolved into shoe-throwing, and then a shoe came his way from Teddy, and he was in on the game, too. The Rockhouse students nearby were looking up at them curiously as the spell faded and the shoes slowly started vanishing until only Luke's original shoe remained, and Luke, Malik, and Teddy were sitting, huffing and puffing, bruised and laughing. One of the Rockhouse students applauded. "Great show!" he called out. "Next time do it with pies or tomatoes!"

Luke cast a sidelong look at Malik and they both broke down laughing all over again.

+----+

"I was really wondering though," Teddy said that night when they were lying in their beds, staring up at the ceiling. "I mean, the Chamber of Secrets turned out to be real, why wouldn't Al Capone's Tower be real? A whole tower full of who knows what... Secrets and probably treasures, and maybe even Al Capone's ghost, which could be really exciting."

"He was a horrible criminal," Luke said. "I think the ghost would be sullen and extremely unpleasant."

"Sounds like he was a pretty skilled criminal, not a horrible one," Teddy said.

"Not really in the mood for wordplay," Luke mumbled. "Too tired for it."

After a while, Teddy spoke up again. "You like Malik."

"Well, obviously," Luke said.

"No, I mean you like him. You want to snog him and do naked things with him."

Luke chuckled. "'Do naked things,' Teddy?"

Teddy shifted uncomfortably. "You know what I mean, Luke."

"Well, you're right. He's very cute, and I really like talking to him, and hanging about with him. But I'm not going to do anything about it. I've got Gene. And he lives in bloody Greenland."

Teddy rolled over in the darkness. Luke turned his head, and he could see his brother--it still felt great to think of Teddy that way--gazing at the window. 

"Are you going to stay with Gene forever?" Teddy asked.

+----+

Their first two weeks at Rockhouse ended with a frantic packing and a lot of calling out to new friends and some hugging, and one of the seventh years somehow managing to snog the Rockhouse girl he had met through the disfiguring swelling of his face. 

Luke looked around for Malik and Karen on the dock at the base of West Tower, and found them by the beacon that was Johannes' tallness. He hurried up and convinced them to ride with them to the pier. Luke sat with Malik and Teddy (and, with a bit of reluctance, with Karen, who was being just as much if a hunhund as usual), and they talked and laughed and generally hung out like friends. 

When the Hawthorn got to the shore a few hours later and everyone piled off, Luke hugged Malik fiercely. "You remember to write to me, right."

"I will, of course," Malik said. He hugged Luke at least as fiercely as Luke hugged him, and pretty soon they both had to hurry to catch portkeys.

This time, on the plane back to England, Teddy tried to get Luke to talk to him, but Luke was missing his friend, and didn't want to be cajoled, so he just stared moodily out the window until he was too tired to looking at the ocean scrolling by below and finally fell asleep.

Teddy dragged him back into consciousness with an involuntary shout of alarm when the jet touched down on landing. With a full night's sleep between him and the realization that he rather missed Malik, Luke felt much better, and he teased Teddy with tales of the Concorde and the TU-144, which Teddy flat-out said were impossible, since "sound moves instantly, so how can you have a jet that flies faster than sound?"

Luke bought a book of science facts at the airport and made Teddy read the whole thing on the Hogwarts Express.

It was entirely the wrong hour when they got off the train at Hogsmeade Station, all of them groggy and aching a bit from too long in transit. Teddy was babbling excitedly about lightyears and porpoises, and since what he was saying sounded completely implausible in the way only available to someone with nothing but a collection of random facts to go on for scientific knowledge, Luke resolved to get Teddy some actual science books. He would have contemplated which subjects to get, but about the time that the thestral-drawn carriages pulled up in front of the big front doors and he stepped out, what appeared to be a black-and-yellow cannonball slammed into him and bore him to the ground, kissing him furiously.

Luke finally managed to get his hands up onto his boyfriend's chest and found that he didn't particularly want to push Gene off of him. Instead, he leaned up for a somewhat gentler kiss than Gene had been giving him. Given that he was pinned to the ground, Luke was hardly in a position to do anything but insist on gentler kisses and wait for Professor Shelly to come yell at them.

"Hello, Gene," Luke said. "Did you miss me, then?"

Gene kissed the very tip of Luke's chin. "I'm not sure who missed you more, me or Fortinbras. He kept not caring in the direction of the Slytherin dormitory. Marissa had to bring him back to me four times because he'd slipped in and was sitting at the fourth year boys' dormitory door. Did you enjoy Rockhouse?"

"Cobham! For goodness sake, show some propriety! Get off of Restimen this instant!"

Luke grinned. "Hi, Professor Shelly. I was just saying hello to Gene, and saying how very educational it was to--"

"Can it, Restimen," Professor Shelly suggested amiably.

Gene gave Luke one more kiss. "You should know by now that buttering her up never works." He extricated himself and held out a hand to help Luke up. Luke took the hand and stood, brushing himself off. Gene brushed some dirt off of Luke's bum, which Luke suspected was more imaginary dirt than real dirt.

"It's always worth trying," Luke said. "Oh, they have got windows under the water, by the way."

Gene blinked, and then he nodded. "Cool. I thought they must have." Gene squeezed Luke's hand. "You haven't heard, have you?"

"Heard what?" Luke asked.

"Aberforth Dumbledore died at St. Mungo's this morning," Gene said quietly. "It was at a little after one in the morning. They're saying it wasn't painful, that he died in his sleep."

Luke closed his eyes and leaned on Gene's shoulder. "He was old, but... It sort of felt like he was always going to be there. It's awful to hear about that."

Gene kissed him on the cheek. "I know. He gave me my first firewhiskey. They're planning a little memorial for him at the Hog's Head tomorrow during the Hogsmeade visit. Do you want to go to it?"

Luke nodded. "I think we ought to send him off right, don't you?"

Gene picked up Luke's bags. "Yeah, I do."

Gene took Luke's bags down to the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and Luke kissed him goodbye before he went into the common room.

Runel was waiting for him, and looking totally smug.

"Hello, Restimen," he said. "Back to stink up the dormitory again? How badly did you lose at the tournament?"

Luke pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointed calmly at Runel's feet, and said "Accio shoe."

Runel's right foot flew out from under him and his shoe flew to Luke's hand.

Luke vanished it before he went off to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are, just past the thirty-k mark, with twenty thousand words to go, and...  
> Oh...  
> there's well over most of the story to go yet.
> 
> Anyways, Malik is shaping up pretty much exactly how I wanted him to. He's an excellent foil to Teddy, and he's pretty much endlessly fascinating to Luke.


	12. The Head of Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here. Have four thousand words.

The next evening, Luke walked into the Hog's Head with Gene and Teddy, and quite a few other Hogwarts students besides, to pay their respect to Aberforth Dumbledore. The mood was somber and depressing, as Madam Rosmerta read off a list of her competitor's accomplishments.

Luke had wondered who would end up owning the bar, but he didn't have long to wait before he found out. Madam Rosmerta ended her eulogy with a solemn gesture to an officious man in black robes who stood at the front of the bar, cleared his throat, and said, "Aberforth's will asked that this statement be read at a memorial to be held here.

"'My loyal customers. By now, of course, I have cacked it. If I died doing something bloody stupid like fighting Voldemort, then I'm sure you're all very proud of me, but I really hope I didn't. 

"'I'm leaving the Hog's Head to September Jurgensen, per our agreement, but it's up to all of you to make sure he doesn't change it. I know you don't care that much, so I'm also stipulating that the first thing he has to do is give you all a free drink. If he tries to get stingey on you, hex him.'"

The officious man hesitated, and then stepped down, and a burly, long-bearded man Luke assumed was September Jurgensen stepped up to the front. He clared his throat. "All right, you lot! One free drink, and let's get it over with."

Luke felt a little bubble of panic rising up in his gut, but then Teddy dragged him out of the Hog's head. Gene was already heading up to get his free drink, and Luke looked back with a mixture of longing and dread at the bar. 

"One couldn't--"

"Yes it could," Teddy said. He sat Luke down, and they wandered for a while until Gene found them. He had clearly made the most of his free drink, and he was clutching two bottles in his hand. Luke's first thought was that his boyfriend must be totally plastered, and with a great deal of embarrassment, he realized that the trepidation he was feeling at the concept of a drunk Gene was probably almost identical to what he had put Mark through when he was drinking himself stupid the previous year.

"Got you both a butterbeer," Gene said when he got close enough. He held the bottles out.

Luke blinked. Gene was definitely not sober, but he wasn't totally wasted, either.

"You know I don't even drink--"

"Make an exception, Luke," Gene suggested.

Luke hesitated a few moments before he popped open the butterbeer, but when he was done with it, the world was still turning as usual. He leaned on Gene's shoulder and all three of them walked back to Hogwarts.

+----+

That Monday, during Charms class, Professor Gills asked Luke to come to his office after classes. Luke had been planning to spend the entire afternoon with Gene, but he couldn't refuse the request of his own head of house, and he made his apologies to Gene--Gene was quite obliging about the whole thing--and went to go and talk to his least favorite teacher. That his head of house was his least favorite teacher was probably a bad thing, but, Luke reflected as he went down to Gills' office, Mick Jagger had had a point.

He was humming "You Can't Always Get What You Want" when he knocked on Gills' door.

Professor Gills let him in immediately.

"Luke. So good to see you," the Head of Slytherin oiled cheerily at him.

"Hello, Professor Gills. Was there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, heavens no," Professor Gills said, gesturing Luke towards a chair. "I had heard that you acquitted yourself quite well during the first rounds of the dueling tournament Shelly took you to. Of course, I'm sure, astute as you are, you've noticed that I didn't give you the Charms work you missed in your absence. Participation in the tournament, naturally, counts toward your final exam, but..." he slid a sheet of parchment across his desk to Luke. "There is some assigned reading."

Luke took the sheet. Professor Leiman had assigned him special tutoring sessions on Sundays, Professor Longbottom had given him quite a bit more assigned reading, Professor Trelawney had tried to look her most ominous when she predicted that nothing that he had missed would come up in the exams, and the rest of his teachers had been far less entertaining about the whole thing (although he was looking forward to Ancient Runes the next day, since his teacher's irritability promised to be quite entertaining.)

"Is that all, Professor?" Luke asked.

"Of course it isn't," a snide voice drawled from behind Professor Gills, one of the portraits on his wall chiming in.

Professor Gills ignored the comment and smiled blandly at Luke. "I've also noticed that you've taken up with Harry Cobham. I have to say that I approve. Mister Cobham is a very skilled wizard--"

"Professor, that's not why I'm with him." Luke held back several comments about Professor Gills' thick head that probably would have lost house points. "I'm not sure what I have to say to you to make you understand that I don't care how skilled of a wizard a boy is--or how skilled a witch a girl is--or how wealthy their family is, or anything like--"

"Kevin, if I might have a word with the boy, privately," the same snide voice from earlier said.

Professor Gills turned around, and the portrait immediately behind Gills' chair raised an eyebrow as the professor regarded it cooly. The man in the portrait, a sallow man that Luke hadn't been able to identify the first time he saw him, but whom he now knew to be Severus Snape, showed no expression but what he had just allowed to ooze onto his face in reply to Gills' chilly gaze.

Gills, to Luke's surprise, nodded. "Of course, Severus." He stood up and walked out, and Severus Snape stepped forwards, peering at Luke. 

The other portraits all cleared their throats and made themselves scarce.

"It's strange," Snape said. "You don't have the same look in your eye as he did."

"You look different than I remember," Luke said.

"I am certain that is the result of seventeen years of aging and stress." Snape said drily. "I am not the same man that you recall."

"Why did you want to talk to me, Severus?" Luke asked. He was a bit surprised to hear the man's given name come out of his mouth so naturally like that. The corner of Snape's mouth quirked up a fraction of a millimeter. 

"You address me the same way that he did. I find that... comforting. Do you know, I found it pleasant to be around him once. Mister Restimen, you are receiving poor counsel from your head of house. I have watched him speak with you over the years, and I have concluded several things."

Luke started to reply, but Snape held up a forestalling hand. "No. Let me speak. You are not certain that you belong in Slytherin. You dislike Kevin Gills with a passion. You are devoted and loyal to your friends, fearsome to your enemies, and frightened of your own social life. You remind me, in some ways, of myself. Tell me if I have erred in my assessment."

"Well, you left out that I can't stand Harry Potter."

Snape shrugged. "I take that as a given in most sane individuals," he drawled. Luke chuckled. "Let me assure you, first, that your own fears about the house to which you belong are unfounded. Your mind works in ways that do Slytherin House proud. Your solution to the problem of your being framed for attacks on quidditch players some time ago was worthy of praise, and again and again, you have demonstrated the same sort of regard for the value of cunning that I was always pleased to see in my own students. I find your choice of friends to be mystifying at times, but in choosing friends, I am often told that I lacked a certain degree of skill.

"Your devotion to your friends, however, is admirable, reluctant though I am to admit it. One cannot spend a great deal of time with Albus Dumbledore and not come to appreciate the value of such devotion. But you must take care to guard that devotion. Your own devotion can be used to hold you against your will. Do not fall into that trap.  
"Your fears about your social life, though, are ill-founded, Mister Restimen." Snape watched him intently for a moment. "You have the strange misfortune to have befriended few from your own house, and this will lead to a conflict of temperament at times, but you fit in well with your group from all that I have heard. Albus Dumbledore once told me he suspected we sort too soon. Since then, I have sometimes wondered if it is a mistake to sort at all. 

"Tell me, Mister Restimen, do you feel that the position in which Slytherin House finds itself is unfair? Does the overwhelming preference for membership in Gryffindor bother you?"

"Yes sir," Luke said.

"Then you should know one thing: Kevin Gills is by far the worst head of house that Slytherin has ever had, but his goal is to redeem the house in the eyes of the public. If you wish to do so yourself, you must be better than he is. You must show the public through your actions that the House of Slytherin is greater than they believe. Do you understand?"

"I've been trying to do just that, sir," Luke confirmed. 

A strange little half-sneer formed at the corner of Snape's mouth. "Then whatever else Kevin Gills may say, repeatedly taking up with Hufflepuffs can do you no harm." He paced back in his portrait to his chair. "Even the Hufflepuffs have their uses."

+----+

Luke found Gene waiting for him with Teddy, Marissa, and Victoire in the swear-chair room. Gene was stretched out on the couch, and Luke stretched out next to him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Teddy was in the middle of expounding loudly on the subject of Al Capone and his mysterious Fifth Tower, and Luke waited for a good place to jump in.

"The real question," Luke said, seeing his chance, "is why a nationally-known, universally-feared wizarding criminal would dump his secret repository of god-knows-what at his old school."

"Why would Tom Riddle store a horcrux at Hogwarts?" Teddy said.

Gene squeezed Luke gently. 

"You might have a point," Luke said. "Except that Voldemort was really obsessed with Hogwarts."

Teddy conceded the point.

Over the next couple of weeks, there was a lot of work to do. The teachers were assigning slightly more work than an average sweatshop owner, and Luke and Gene hardly found any time to get together without being stuck studying. As a fifth year, it was even worse for Gene, and he was starting to get a bit of what Teddy called "OWL Panic Syndrome." Luke very carefully didn't laugh about this when Gene was around.

Towards the middle of December, Andromeda sent along some news that made Luke stop in the middle of breakfast, his fork frozen halfway to his mouth.

"Is it too late to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday?" Luke asked.

Teddy plucked Andromeda's letter out of Harry's hand and went very quiet. "I suppose he had to apologize eventually," Teddy said.

Luke pulled the letter back to him.

_Dear Luke and Teddy,  
I'm sure that you're both going to be a bit nervous about this, but I really can't put it off any longer. Harry (that's Harry Potter, to you both) has been asking to see his godson for the Christmas holiday. Since I would rather Teddy meet Harry again in my company, I've invited Harry to eat Christmas dinner with us.   
He'll be coming around with his family on Christmas at around noon. Teddy, please be nice to James, Harry says he's been missing you terribly.  
Luke, I know you're nervous about being around Harry Potter, so if you'd like to invite your boyfriend, you can go ahead. Bill Weasley has also said that Victoire wants to come over, so if you invite her, I wouldn't mind. Her parents have already said that they can come out for Christmas dinner. Since it seems like all of your friends are coming anyways, you might as well invite Marissa out, too, and have everyone out for Christmas.  
Please don't be nervous, boys. And Teddy, Harry is your godfather, and he misses you and truly feels he owes you an apology. At least hear him out.  
Love to both of my boys,  
Gran._

Luke stared sullenly at the letter. "Don't see why we've got to listen to him."

"Listen to who?" Gene asked, plunking himself down next to Luke with a cursory kiss on the cheek.

"Potter," Luke ground out. "He's coming to our house for Christmas dinner."

"Uncle Harry is going to be at your house?" Victoire said.

"Yeah. You're invited, too," Teddy replied. "Please come," he added with a twinge of desperation around the edges of his voice.

Luke elbowed Gene. "You're invited as well. Do you want to come?"

Gene's face lit up. "I'd love to. I'll ask my mum and dad!"

"What about me?" Marissa said from across the table.

"Of course you're invited," Teddy said before Luke could reply. "I think Gran wants to make sure we're all happy even though Harry's going to be there."

Gene leaned across the table. "You're still willing to talk to him after he obliviated you?"

Teddy rested his head on the table. "He sent a letter apologizing to me, but I haven't spoken to him much since then. I don't know. If he's not totally crazy, then maybe."

"He's Potter," Luke said. "He's totally crazy."

Gene threw an arm around Luke's shoulders. "You're really serious about not liking him, aren't you?"

Luke leaned on Gene's shoulder. "Potter makes me really uncomfortable."

"I guess I'll just have to make you comfortable, then," Gene said in a voice that suggested that if Luke was looking at him, he would have been waggling his eyebrows.

"You couldn't have made that sound any more lecherous, could you?" Marissa said.

Gene looked around, then grinned. "Hey Luke, you want to forget about breakfast and go get comfortable?"

Luke shrugged, picked up his pumpkin juice, and carefully dumped it out over his head. "I hate Sundays," he muttered.

"You're using the swear-chair room for it?" Teddy objected even as he poured his orange juice down the front of his shirt.

Marissa and Victoire followed suit, and then Gene dumped his own down his back. Once their spillages had guaranteed that the swear-chair room--which Luke loved, but which had clearly been enchanted by a madman--would be open, Gene stood up. "I think we're going to have to clean each other off, Luke."

"Clean the swear-chairs, too," Teddy said as Luke and Gene wandered off together.

"So, shall I clean you first, or do you want to do me?" Luke asked.

"I always want to do you," Gene replied.

+----+

Luke got his first letter from Malik the day they left for Christmas break. He had written first, and since there was no express wizarding post to Greenland, it took a painfully long time for letters to make the trip. Luke stared at the envelope that dropped onto the table in front of him.

"Did he write you a novel?" Teddy asked.

"Who?" Gene said.

"Malik," Luke said, picking up the half-inch-thick envelope. The eagle owl that had delivered it looked as though it was trying to decide if Luke was worth eviscerating.

"I'm not the one who sent it," Luke told the owl.

"So is Malik cute?" Gene said.

"Pretty cute, yeah," Luke said distractedly, opening the envelope.

A sheet of looseleaf paper sat on top of a thick black notebook inside the envelope. Luke took the sheet while Gene picked up the notebook. "Why did he send you a notebook?"

_My Friend Luke,  
It took two weeks for your letter to reach Greenland. I am not that patient so I am giving you this notebook. With Johannes and Karl I have enchanted it so that it will show what each of us writes. I have one like it if I write in mine, yours will show it also.  
I will check my notebook every day and we can talk like that.  
Hoping to talk soon,  
Malik._

Luke took the notebook from his boyfriend and let the letter make the rounds of his friends. He opened up the notebook. There was a drawing on the first page, a fairly modern small muggle town, barely more than a village, with people walking through snow up to their hips. A pair of cars were parked in front of a small church, and a priest was standing on the steps, surveying the scene in front of him. As Luke opened up the notebook, another line was added to the drawing. Luke reached into his pocket and rummmaged around a bit before he found a pen, then he wrote underneath the drawing, "having fun?"

The lines stopped in mid-stroke for a moment, then finished, and Malik wrote back, "Yes. Did you just get the notebook?"

Luke grinned. He'd never really had the chance to instant-message someone, but this was, he imagined, pretty close to what it would be like. "I did. We have to leave for Christmas break after breakfast, so I don't have long to talk, but I'll be able to chat on the train. Harry Potter is coming to visit us for Christmas dinner. Ugh. At least I get to have all my friends there. Except you." He drew a little frowning face after that last sentence. Gene leaned over to look at the notebook. 

Malik didn't respond for quite a while, and then, at the bottom of the page, he wrote, "turn the page."

Luke flipped the page and read "I am sorry to hear that. I know how you feel about Harry Potter and I hope that you will be alright."

Luke drew a little face with what he thought looked like a pretty decent hopeful expression.

On the Hogwarts Express, Luke leaned on Gene and wrote back and forth with Malik until Malik begged off because his hand was starting to cramp up. They filled ten pages, and Luke was pretty sure that, as thick as the notebook was, they were going to need a new one by the end of the year, at least.

After Malik left, Luke closed up the notebook and joined in the conversation with the rest of his friends. 

"Finally come back to the land of the living?" Gene asked.

Luke nodded and tried his best to join in with their game of Scrabble. They lost pretty thoroughly to Teddy, and Gene pulled out a deck of cards and got a poker game started, playing for whatever little money was in their pockets, and when they finally got off the train, Luke had won. He remembered playing poker with Mark a couple of times. The one time Mark had won, he redistributed the wealth he had won evenly.

Luke did no such thing. Mark was a Hufflepuff, but Luke was a Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The conversation with Snape's portrait was incredibly fun to write. disdain is a great emotion.


	13. Not Subtle Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get around to one of the repeated lines that shows up in some form in each of these today.

"Are you ready?" Andromeda asked.

"I think so," Luke said. "So, Gene gets here first?"

"That's right," Teddy said, even as the floo started flaring green. Gene stepped out, his father behind him. As soon as he spotted Luke, he hurried forward and kissed him, then immediately hugged Teddy and ruffled a hand through his hair.

"You're red and green!"

Teddy raised an eyebrow, and streaks of shiny silver and gold shot through his hair. "More festive?"

"Wow, you weren't joking," Gene's father said.

"I told you," Gene said.

Luke stuck out his hand. "Mister Cobham, it's nice to meet you."

Mister Cobham turned just about the darkest look Luke had ever seen on him. The man was about six feet tall and looked as though he might be able to snap Luke in half. Luke flinched a bit, and Mister Cobham spoke. "You must be the boy who's been screwing my son."

Luke turned bright red.

"Make sure you do it right. And call me Jerome. Mister Cobham was my father."

Luke turned even redder. Even Gene managed to turn red, which was something of an accomplishement. "Dad," he said plaintively while Teddy burst out laughing and rushed forward to shake Mister Cobham's--Jerome's--hand. 

"I love you, sir," Teddy said.

Luke would have said more, but the floo flared up again and out stepped Gwendolyn Jones, and right behind her came her daughter. Marissa hurried to hug Luke, Teddy, and Gene. The introductions were made and seats had just been taken in the living room when there was a knock on the door. 

Andromeda hurried to answer it, and made some very cheerful noises of greeting. Luke heard Victoire's voice, and Bill and Fleur Weasley's, and then some smaller children's voices, and then Andromeda spoke softly, and a boy's voice yelled out "Teddy!"

A black-haired boy came rushing through the door into the living room, arrowed straight towards Teddy, and Teddy barely had time to stand up and properly receive the high-energy ballistic C-fractional hug that had been aimed his way. When the blur of motion stopped, there was a nine-year-old version of Harry Potter hugging Teddy.

"Hullo, James," Teddy said.

Gene was chuckling softly, cuddled up against Luke's side. Luke just stared. it was momentarily unsettling to see a boy who looked so much like Harry Potter, but then the man himself trumped the minor discomfort of Luke's first sight of James. 

Potter walked into the room, and his eyes fell first on Luke, lingering for a moment or two before skipping on to Teddy.

"Hello Teddy," Potter said.

Victoire slipped in with her parents and her cousins, and a ten-year-old girl and a boy the same age as James with hair just as blonde as hers. Luke had known she had younger siblings, but it was still a bit strange to see the Dominique and Louis that she mentioned from time to time in person. 

Albus Potter, on the other hand, wasn't strange to see: he was a downright shock. For a moment, Luke thought Mark had walked into the room. There was a shock of cinnamon hair on top of a shy, withdrawn head. The moment lasted less than a second before Luke placed Albus as literally half Mark's age, but he shook his head to clear the image out of it. 

Lily, the youngest Potter child, was as much the spitting image of her mother as James was of their father, red haired and brown-eyed and freckled, so that Ginny Potter was basically a more aged version of the girl she followed into the suddenly-crowded living room.

with everyone in there, and nobody talking, it was a bit like being in the most awkward possible crowd.

Harry Potter sighed. "Teddy, I owe you an apology. I owe you several apologies, and I owe them to Luke as well. My behavior to both of you has been... unforgivable."

"You're bloody well right," Teddy said. "It's been totally unforgivable." Luke's jaw dropped a bit, and he winced as he braced himself to hear Teddy cut himself off from his own godfather. He didn't like Potter, but this was going to be painful for everyone there and he knew it. Teddy patted James on the back, sending him towards Ginny. The silence stretched fragile and thin across the room. Teddy slowly advanced on Potter.

"You used me, without my permission, and without my knowledge, to spy on my best friend. You damaged my memory, and I can still barely recall what was actually done, but I know you erased my memory of our fight over it. If you were anyone else, anyone else at all, you would be in Azkaban right now. You ruined any chance Luke had at a normal life, and the worst part was that you were unapologetic about it. It would be perfectly reasonable for me to tell Gran that I never want to see you again." 

James Potter shrank into his mother's side.

"I could say it right now, and she'd say that you had your chance to apologize and it was time to leave. And you cared little enough for your godson to do something that bloody cruel. But I care enough for James and Albus and Lily that I want to be there for them. I want to be able to talk to their father without yelling, so I won't forgive you, but I'll move past it. That means it's up to the boy whose life you ruined."

Everyone turned to Luke. Luke frowned. "Teddy's right. You're not forgiven, and I'll probably never trust you, but I'm not going to get in between Teddy and people who obviously love him as much as James does."

Potter had slowly gone from cringing in miserable anticipation very obvious distress while Teddy berated him, and now he breathed out a very small sigh of relief. 

Teddy held out his hand. "I think we ought to start over, don't you?"

Potter took the proffered hand. "Agreed."

"So," Andromeda said with forced cheer that sounded very, very artificial--she couldn't make her cheerfulness sound genuine at all if she was forcing it--"shall we turn on a bit of Christmas music?"

Teddy jumped at her suggestion, and soon the Trans Siberian Orchestra was blasting from the radio. Everyone settled into chairs, and it took a while for the younger children to edge their nervous way over to Teddy. It helped that Victoire plopped herself unhesitatingly next to Teddy.

Louis Weasley was utterly fascinated by Luke, and kept chattering away at him with the sort of determined cheeriness only available to someone who hasn't yet seen a full decade. Luke showed him how to start a stampede on the wallpaper that was covered in magically-animated pictures of animals, and Andromeda gave him a mock-annoyed look when Louis taught his sisters, and the three Weasley children taught the three Potter children, and little Lily ran back and forth across the living room, giggling as she chased herds of deer and flocks of birds all across the walls.

Marissa eventually found a place to sit close to Luke, and Luke stretched out in stocking-footed comfort on the couch, wrapping an arm around Gene and finding a smile despite Potter's presence.

"Kids are great, aren't they?" Gene said.

Luke nodded. The noise and chaos was surprisingly comforting, boisterous and happy and unabashed. He cuddled Gene closer to him and somewhere in the next hour or so, he fell asleep with Gene curling up into his shoulder.

Gene shook him awake at dinnertime, and Luke followed into the dining room.

For a Weasley gathering, even a "small" one like this, Andromeda had pulled out all the stops. The dining room table was the largest Luke had ever seen it, and the Christmas centerpiece was brand new, with candles burning bright and steady with the scent of cinnamon and hints of chocolate, and holly leaves and a bit of mistletoe, tinsel and pine boughs. 

The tablecloth was the same one she used every Christmas, an expanse of soft blue fabric with pictures of pure white snow falling towards the edges from some point in the center, concealed by the centerpiece. Obviously, the Potter children had seen the tablecloth before, because the instant that they sat down, they started twirling their fingers on the cloth, rolling snowballs to send sailing across the table at each other. Harry Potter sat down on the other side of his children from his wife, who sat next to Bill and immediately started talking quidditch. Teddy sat on Luke's left, Gene on his right, and Marissa right next to Gene. Victoire insisted on sitting with Teddy, so all five of the friends took up most of one side of the table, with the adults scattered around. 

While Andromeda passed around the egg nog and wine, Potter looked across the table and smiled. "I hear they call you the League of Interhouse Friendship around Hogwarts," he said.

"They do," Marissa said proudly.

Luke cleared his throat softly and added "we've never been all together for Christmas before. And Gene is sort of a new member." He squeezed Gene's hand under the table. Gene squeezed back.

Potter fell silent again, watching Luke talk with his friends. Luke determinedly ignored the scrutiny, instead choosing to focus on starting the biggest snowball fight he could. He was a bit surprised when a snowball came rather unmistakeably from Potter, aimed perfectly through the gap between his plate and his mug. Andromeda had given Luke some unspiked egg nog. All the kids had gotten it unspiked, although Andromeda did allow anyone whose parents said it was okay a glass of wine. Marissa and Gene were both taking advantage of that offer, but Luke and Teddy weren't. Bill and Fleur had said that Victoire could, but she had decided that she would stay sober "in support of Teddy's decision", a pronouncement that brought chuckles from around the table and a look of irritation to her face.

The Potter children chattered about the Christmas Eve gathering they had attended the day before, and about a whole set of Weasley children Luke hadn't even known existed, but whose sheer number told him that he was liable to drown in a sea of bright red hair sometime in the next few years.

Andromeda led the conversation among the adults, and Luke paid attention to it with about a quarter of his brain, but he definitely wasn't invested in it at all, since it was nowhere near as interesting as the discussion of the Hogwarts houses at the previous year's Christmas dinner. Eventually, though, Bill asked about the tournament. Luke let Andromeda give him the basics for a while.

"So what is Rockhouse like?" Bill asked. 

"It's amazing," Teddy said. "There's four huge stone towers out in the middle of the lake, and they're full of a rat's nest of corridors and rooms, with huge windows, and some of them look out over the water, and some of them look out under the water, and all of the towers are connected to each other with glass walkways under the water."

"The stairs and things don't move, but it's like four of Hogwarts stuck together," Luke supplied. "I think their version of the Great Hall is cooler, though. It's a big, huge room under under a glass dome in the lake. They call it the Thunder Room, because when the weather gets stormy, the waves sound like thunder. And they've got a pool. An indoor pool. Very nice, no giant squid at all. Not even a little bit."

Bill laughed. "Not really comfortable with swimming in the Black Lake, huh?"

"Well, it's got a giant squid in it," Luke pointed out reasonably.

"So do you think you're going to win the tournament?" Potter asked.

"No," Luke said. "If I had to predict a winner, I'd say it was going to be Malik."

"Who's Malik?" Potter asked.

"Here we go," Victoire said.

Luke stuck his tongue out at her.

"To be fair, he is pretty great," Teddy said.

"But Luke is always talking about Malik," Marissa complained.

"Sometimes I feel a little neglected," Gene said.

"Well, I can't help my little crushes," Luke said, kissing Gene on the cheek to soften the impact of his words.

"Malik is from Greenland," Teddy explained, "where I hear he's very well-connected in the local wizarding community."

"There are seventeen wizards in Greenland," Fleur said pointedly.

"And he knows all of them," Teddy said. "Nine of them are his family." He grinned. "His granddad's the local Minister for Magic, because he runs the grocery store."

"More to the point, he's an amazing duelist," Luke said. 

"You like him because you think he's cute," Teddy said.

"That's why I look at his bum, Teddy, not why I like him."

Gene smacked Luke gently on the back of the head. 

"He really is a great duelist," Teddy said. "I'd rather not have to face him in the tournament. But he's a really good friend, too."

"Well, that's the point of the tournament," Potter said. "People make connections at these things. They could certainly accomplish it all in less time, but you've got yourself a friend." He looked at Teddy as he spoke, rather than Luke. Luke couldn't blame him. Neither of them was really comfortable looking at the other. "Are you a pen-friend, as well?"

"He sent me an enchanted notebook so we could talk to each other in real time," Luke said.

"Wow!" Dominique exclaimed. "Dad, can I have one of those for me and Gabrielle?"

Bill winced. "No, Dom. They're very expensive, and besides, we'd never get you out of the thing."

Dominique made a pouty face. James and the other Potter children turned towards Harry, and he calmly said "Nope."

Luke grinned in spite of himself.

After dinner, they all went to the living room. Luke knew what was coming, and sure enough, the instant everyone was seated, Andromeda twirled her wand and santa hats appeared on both his head and Teddy's. A startled noise in the corner of the room reminded Luke that Fortinbras wasn't too fond of conjurings, and sure enough, his cat froze halfway across the room.

This was probably a mistake, since Lily, Albus, and Dominique all set upon Fortinbras immediately and started cooing over him until Victoire rescued the poor cat and held him while she soothed him. 

By the time Luke got around to delivering a catnip toy to Fortinbras--the last of the presents--the cat was already pretty well calmed down. Luke snuggled up to Gene on the couch, and Teddy sat down next to Victoire. He smiled when she rested her head on his shoulder, and when the two of them fell asleep about half an hour later, nobody was particularly surprised.

"So when are they going to start dating, again?" Gene asked quietly after Harry Potter and his family had left with the minimum of awkwardness possible. 

"Probably some time in twenty-one-thirty, the rate they're going," Luke replied calmly, snuggling up so his head was resting on Gene's chest. Andromeda chuckled.

Dominique and Louis started yawning, and Bill stood up and shook his daughter awake. Teddy didn't even stir when Victoire got up. 

"He let me fall asleep on him," Victoire said fuzzily.

"Well," Bill said quietly, so as not to wake Teddy, "he's obviously quite fond of you. I'm sorry, Victoire, but your charms aren't subtle enough to escape the notice of a fourteen-year-old boy." He shook his wife awake, too, and Andromeda stood to hug him.

"Don't be a stranger, Bill."

"Of course not," Bill said. "Thank you for having us in your home."

Luke hugged Victoire, and then Marissa hugged her, and Gene reached out and gave her the closest approximation to a hug he could manage from under Luke.

"We'll be going right after them," Gwendolyn announced to Marissa.

Marissa stood up as the Weasleys left. She bent down to kiss both Luke and Gene on the cheek before she and her mother flooed away.

With the relative lack of company, Luke very much wanted to drag Gene off to his bedroom, but he was pretty sure that wasn't going to be happening. Andromeda and Jerome talked quietly in a corner, their posture that of people exchanging parenting tips. 

Finally, Jerome stood and walked over to Luke and Gene. "Gene," he said. "I have one more Christmas gift for you."

Gene tensed a bit. "What's that?"

"If you want, you can stay here overnight."

Luke's jaw dropped. How Jerome had convinced Andromeda, he would never know. Gene nodded mutely, and Jerome leaned over to hug his son. Gene made the effort to untangle himself from Luke a bit, and then Jerome shook Luke's hand. "I'll see you later, Luke. Oh, and try oleus. It's a useful little spell."

Andromeda made a face, and she put a blanket over Teddy. Fortinbras coursed Gene and Luke up to his bedroom, but they shut the cat out and took full advantage of the unexpected privacy.

Afterwards, they lay nose-to-nose on the bed, and Gene smiled at Luke.

Luke let out a little giggle, and Gene started laughing a little louder, and pretty soon they were wrapped up in gales of laughter, holding onto each other and cackling helplessly until Andromeda knocked on the door.

"Luke! Quiet down," she said without opening it.

Luke and Gene stared at each other, and Luke looked down at Gene's chest because he knew that if he looked into his eyes, he would start laughing again. Gene rolled him over and held him from behind.

After a while, Gene spoke.

"You still awake?"

Luke nodded.

Gene kissed the back of his head. "You know I love you, right?"

"Obviously," Luke said. He rolled again and nuzzled Gene's chest. "You know I love you, right?"

He was getting cold, so he hooked a foot around the blanket and drew it up over both of them. The fuzzy fabric was warm and pleasant.

"Luke, how do you feel about Malik?" Gene asked. 

Luke blinked at the question. "Well, he's my friend--"

"Luke," Gene said. Luke stopped talking. "I promise I won't be mad, no matter what you say."

Luke spent a few silent moments half trying to burrow into Gene's chest. "I... I like him. A lot."

"How do you feel about me?"

The question seemed to drip off the walls. Finally, Luke leaned back against Gene. "When did we stop dating?"

Gene squeezed Luke closer. "I don't know, Luke. I don't think it's really a bad thing. I mean, I've got some wonderful friends out of it, and you're probably the best one of them, but we're not really a couple anymore, are we? We're just two blokes who like each other enough to crawl into bed together."

"This is going to mean less snogging, isn't it?"

Gene looked thoughtful. "Less kissing. Snogging will probably stay consistent, as I really enjoy snogging." He moved against Luke in a way that left little room for interpretation as far as his motives went. "There's a few things I enjoy."

+----+

Gene seemed relaxed and happy as he ate breakfast with them on Boxing Day. When Luke trotted out the notebook and started writing back and forth at Malik later in the day, Gene actually grabbed a quill and participated in the conversation. Luke had never thought about it before, but the fact was that Gene had gone a bit icy when he mentioned Malik before. Now, he was laughing at Malik's jokes, and when Jerome came to get him, Gene made sure to make the absolute flirtiest comment he could in the notebook before he gave Luke a quick hug and got up to leave, picking up Fortinbras and putting the cat down in the warm spot he'd left on the sofa. 

"I'll see you at Hogwarts, Luke," Gene said.

Luke waved goodbye to him with his foot, and Teddy bleared his way into the living room to say goodbye to Gene.

Andromeda sipped a cup of coffee and Teddy grabbed Fortinbras and started playing with him, sitting on the floor in front of the couch. "So what's changed?" Teddy asked. "You   
two finally use the 'l' word?"

"No," Luke said. "Okay, well, yes, but then we broke up."

Andromeda spat the mouthful of coffee she'd just taken back into her mug. "You what?"

"It's not a big deal, Gran," Luke said, managing to supress the goofy smile that still came from being able to call her that. "I mean, obviously we're still friends, we're just not a couple anymore."

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Was this before or after I woke up to thumping on the ceiling."

"Well, we _are_ both boys," Luke said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like that I just got to use the terms ballistic and c-fractional in a Harry Potter fanfiction. I love the way Luke thinks.


	14. Back to Rockhouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not really feelin' it today, just a little too depressed to get much writing done, ergo keeping on schedule to finish on the 25th and not a word more.

Andromeda pinched the bridge of her nose. "Luke, that's not appropriate. It's one thing if he's your boyfriend, but if he's only a friend..."

"I don't see what the difference is, really," Luke said. He glanced at what Malik had just finished writing, chuckled, and made his reply.

"The difference is commitment," Andromeda complained. 

Luke shook his head.

"No, the difference is the outsider's perception of commitment. I'm pretty sure Gene and I both knew from the start that we weren't exactly going to be getting married. If the difference is commitment, then I'm not sure what commitment there is that's different now than it was yesterday. We've both agreed that it's going to be exclusive, it's just that now we've also agreed that we're not going to be upset when one of us finds someone else. And if we are, then we can go right back to dating, since that would be a pretty fair indicator that we want to date after all." Luke concentrated on a reply to Malik for a moment, then looked back up. "We're friends, and we obviously love each other, and I expect any future boyfriends I have--or girlfriends, for that matter--are going to be jealous of Gene, and as close as we are, I don't see why we shouldn't show it a bit more physically sometimes, especially if we both enjoy it."

Andromeda stared. "That would be really persuasive if you weren't a boy trying to convince me to let you go on having sex."

"Gran, he's trying to convince you to let him continue having sex with someone he can't get pregnant," Teddy pointed out. "Not to mention that Madam Pomfrey does everything she legally can to make sure Hogwarts is disease-free. I'd think you would be happier about this. It's not as if I was running about sleeping with every girl I can get my hands on. It's Luke, and he's only having fun."

"And besides that," Luke said, "I'm a Slytherin. I'm--"

"Going to do exactly what you like and nothing is going to stop you, I know," Andromeda said. "But remember I'm a Slytherin, too. If you do manage to get someone pregnant or some such idiocy, I will find out about it, and then you will rue the day you were born with testicles."

+----+

They were only back in Hogwarts for two days before Luke and Teddy were back on the train, headed for the airport. Professor Shelly had advised her duelists not to unpack.

Once again, Luke had gotten a "fond farewell" from Gene, and he spent the whole trip back to King's Cross leaning back in his chair and looking smug about it, which was probably why Teddy took the mickey out of him on the Knight Bus, laughing when Luke barked his shin on a coffee table while trying to avoid the careening flight of a side table. Teddy's fears about flying, though, had come back, not at full force, but enough that Luke could poke fun at him right back. Luke had wanted to bring his enchanted notebook so he could talk to Malik on the plane, but Malik had convinced him to leave his at Hogwarts with Marissa so that they would have a direct line back to his friends. 

"It is only for the plane rides that you will not be able to talk to me," Malik's reasoning had run, and Luke had to admit that it was fairly sound. That did leave him with little to do but talk strategy with Teddy, but there were far worse fates, and once he got past how funny Teddy was when he went all white-knuckled, Luke found it felt better to comfort his brother than to mock him, so he took Teddy's mind off of the plane ride with talk of strategy and spelldances until Professor Shelly told the story of the sporting duel a century earlier that had led to the banning of Felix Felicis potion from sporting events. 

"For a while, there was a Felix League," Professor Shelly said as her story wound down. "You don't get to see a match like that every day. But the third time a much stronger duelist died on his way to take on a weaker fighter, they called it off for good."

They went through the same rigamarole as before on getting to ground in Texas, but this time, Professor Shelly had made sure that there was enough time to do some sightseeing in Fort Worth, so when they got into the unreasonably vast cavern that was the overblown American equivalent of Diagon Alley, Professor Shelly led them on a whirlwind tour. Luke's favorite bit was the wandmakers. There were at least four, and all of them clearly had different approaches. One had a set of antique dueling pistols mounted on the wall. When Luke asked, the man explained that the guns were a matched set, with wandwood handles and carefully enchanted mechanics, and dragon's blood repositories for a core. He had then used the guns to cast several spells, and Luke had been suitably impressed and vowed to stop in at Joy Dallas' shop in Diagon alley the next time he had the chance, just to ask her about more exotic types of wands.

Finally, everyone had finished up the drinks they got at a Mcdonald's (Luke didn't want to know how it was possible to have a wizarding Mcdonald's) and they all went in to catch their portkey to Lake Superior.

Luke was a little more prepared this time, and when their feet hit the ground, he stayed upright. It helped that the hoop was a little less crowded--two of their number had lost in the previous visit and chosen not to come back. Once again, Professor Shelly tossed the hoop into the air and it vanished at the top of its arc. She led them over to the pier, and this time, when the Hawthorn pulled up to the dock, Oldwing's greeting was more general, addressed to all of his guests at once.

"Welcome back, everyone!" Doctor Oldwing cried, and Luke had no idea what he said after that because a thickly muffled figure thudded into him from the side and hugged him. 

"Hello, Luke!" Malik said.

Luke extricated himself from Malik for long enough to hug him back properly. "I missed you," Luke said quietly.

Malik let go of Luke and Luke got the chance to see behind him. Johannes and Karen were weaving their way through the crowd towards them. The crowd started moving, flowing up the ramp onto the Hawthorn. Luke and Malik hung back at the rear of Professor Shelly's group until Johannes and Karen caught up with them. They got onto the ship, and Malik immediately pulled out the notebook. Luke, Teddy, and Malik sat around conferring over the notebook, waiting for Marissa to pick it up on the other end. Eventually she did, and they had a long, running conversation with Marissa, Gene, and Victoire.


	15. Malik Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luke runs into some interesting statistical abnormalities.

Somewhere along the line, Karen spotted a friend, hurried off to go talk to her, and Johannes told Malik which table they would be at in the Thunder Room. The three friends passed the time pleasantly enough, and it seemed far too soon that the Hawthorn bumped against the dock. Luke and Teddy turned a huge grin on each other, and then that same grin was turned on Malik.

He returned it with interest.

+----+

By the third day back at Rockhouse, Teddy was getting restless. "There are only so many new spelldances I can learn before I go off my rocker," he complained as they left the classroom where Mrs. Lewski had just finished detailing the proper steps for a wandless thunder spell.

"Well, then, let's go and look through the library," Luke suggested.

"We already did that," Teddy said. 

"We never used the swimming pool in our last visit," Malik pointed out.

Luke shrugged. Most wizards he had known didn't really go in for swimming, which was a shame, since he enjoyed a good dip now and then. "I would like to see it," he said speculatively. "It's got to be better than that great pond they call a water feature at Hogwarts. I love the place like it's my own home, but there's no place to swim there." He fell back a bit in the group and got Professor Shelly's attention.

"Professor?"

She turned from her conversation with a sour-looking Asain gentleman with a polite-sounding few words of what Luke thought might have been Chinese. "What is it, Luke?"

"Teddy and I would like to go down to the swimming pool. May we?"

Professor Shelly looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then she nodded. "Take Lennox with you, he's been wanting to go there as well."

Luke made a sour face, but Professor Shelly cut him off before he could object. "Take Lennox or don't go, Restimen."

Luke sighed. "Yes, Professor."

Professor Shelly sent him off with a quick "and make sure you wear proper swim shorts!"

Luke tapped Lennox Finch-Fletchley on the shoulder as he made his way back to Teddy and Malik.

"What?" Finch-Fletchley said, and then he saw Luke and smiled an oily little smile. "Oh, hi Luke. What's going on?"

"Professor Shelly says I'm to take you down to the swimming pool, since me and Teddy are going with Malik."

The other boy's smile turned triumphant. "Excellent, let's go."

Luke gestured for Finch-Fletchley to follow him, and told Teddy about Professor Shelly's condition for their being allowed to swim.

"Aw, that's hard luck," Teddy said. "Why couldn't she have just told us we had to have fun?"

Malik gave Lennox Finch-Fletchley an appraising look. "Is he a problem?"

"He's a bit of a prick," Luke said.

"A what?" Malik said.

"A jerk," Teddy supplied.

"A hunhund," Luke concluded when Malik still looked confused.

Malik laughed. 

They had to part ways on their way to get their swimming things, and Luke and Teddy both scrambled to find their shorts. Teddy found his first, scrambled into the bathroom, and by the time he came out, Luke was waiting, changed into his own bright blue pair of boardshorts, and was less than thrilled when Teddy immediately charmed them green and silver.

"Knock it off!" Luke said. 

Teddy looked about to make a snarky reply, but just then there was a knock on the door. Luke opened it and his jaw dropped, quite involuntarily. 

Malik wore a pair of shorts that reached down past his knees, and although Luke and Teddy--and, as he emerged, it was obvious that Lennox Finch-Fletchley agreed with them--were wearing their Hogwarts robes on the way to the pool, Malik... wasn't.

"So," Luke squeaked. "Plenty of time to get exercise in Greenland?"

Malik nodded. 

"Don't suppose we've got twenty minutes or so free so--"

"Shut up, Luke," Teddy said amiably. 

Malik smiled. "I could come back later."

"Don't you dare," Luke breathed. "And you walk in front of us."

The smile that ghosted across Malik's face made Luke draw his robe a little tighter around himself. He managed to get his reaction to Malik a bit more under control by the time they got to the swimming pool. There was a swim class being taught at one end, but the pool had to be about twice the size of a professional quidditch pitch, if not as deep. Luke chuckled.

"What?" Teddy asked as Malik went up to go and make sure it was okay to go swimming.

"I was just picturing a swimming pool several hundred meters deep," Luke said. "Dropped your keys in there? Good luck, you sorry bastard."

Teddy shrugged. "A bubble-head charm... hm... a bubble-head charm would make your head explode past six hundred feet."

"Gillyweed," Luke supplied, remembering one of the more famous stories about Potter.

Teddy shrugged and then grinned as Malik took a running jump and a rather graceless entry into the water.

"Looks as though we've got permission," Teddy said while Luke was still gaping.

"How did he make flailing look that good?"

Teddy grinned, went quite a bit tanner than usual--there were some girls about their age in the class being taught, and Teddy also managed to turn himself a very striking blonde--and shrugged out of his Hogwarts robe. 

"Really?" Luke said.

Teddy grinned. "If you could give yourself a body like this, you would do it, too," Teddy said, and he got a running start and yelled "Cannonball!" immediately matching action to words, and drawing as much attention as possible. Luke rolled his eyes, but tossed his and Teddy's robes off to the side. Lennox Finch-Fletchley dropped his own nearby. Luke went for distance rather than height or a grandiose entry into the water, and when he came up, he was already laughing and splashing around.

Malik, to Luke's very great amusement, was a terrible swimmer. It made a certain amount of sense. Swimming in the North Atlantic was an excellent indicator of madness, given how ungodly cold it was supposed to be. Luke couldn't help swimming circles around him--sometimes literally--just because he had finally found something he was better at than Malik.

Lennox Finch-Fletchley tried to get in on their games for a while, but Luke and Teddy made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with him, and he backed off.

Eventually, after the class being taught at the other end of the pool had left, Teddy said "come on, Malik, I've got to show you how to swim, instead of just sort of flopping across the pool."

Luke laughed, because that was pretty much exactly what Malik had been doing. He laughed even harder when he saw that, graceful in duels or not, Malik was a slow learner when it came to swimming. Still, by the time another class--this one full of eight-year-olds--splashed into the pool, Malik was actually getting some real swimming done. Lennox Finch-Fletchley climbed out and went off to go get changed, but Luke, Teddy, and Malik stayed in the water until Teddy complained that he was getting hungry and went off to go and get some food. Luke called him a wimp, and he and Malik stayed until the Rockhouse class had gone, and finally they climbed to the edge and sat there, dripping with their feet dangling in the water, and Malik leaned back on the poolside.

"Luke?"

Luke turned to look at Malik. "Yeah?"

"Why do you spend time with me?"

Luke winced. "Well, I like you--"

"How much do you like me?" Malik asked.

Luke turned tomato red. "I'm sorry," he said.

Malik stared at him, and Luke shook his head and slipped into the water, pushing off from the wall and swimming across. When he turned and looked across the length of the pool, Malik was watching him. The other boy dropped into the pool and swam over.

"I am not angry at you. I do not want to be together with you, but I am not angry." Malik gripped Luke's hand. "You are my friend, Luke. If you want to be my boyfriend..." he shook his head. "I can't be your boyfriend." He hugged Luke. "If you want to, we can still be more than friends, but it will not be for love."

Luke stared at Malik. He should get out of the pool and go back to the dormitory he shared with Teddy, and he knew it. 

"So what's the policy on kissing, then?"

Malik shook his head. "I would rather not."

Luke could climb out of the pool right at that moment, and Malik wouldn't think any differently about him. He grabbed the edge and clambered out, looked over at the towels by his Hogwarts robe, looked back at Malik, and then extended a hand down to him. Malik let Luke help him out of the pool, and lead him, hand-in-hand, through the corridors, Malik's towels over Malik, Luke's towel in his hand and his robe on over his swim shorts.

They dripped on the floor as they walked, leaving a trail of wet footprints and drag marks from Luke's robe, all the way from the pool in South Tower to the room Luke shared with Teddy in West Tower. He opened the door. Teddy was inside, reclined on the bed with his nose in a Rockhouse potions textbook. He looked up.

"Hey, Teddy," Luke said, blushing fiercely.

"Don't bother explaining," Teddy said. "I'll go read in one of the observation rooms."

He stood up and winked at Luke, and as soon as he was out of the room, Luke dragged Malik to his bed.

+----+

Luke got into dinner about twenty minutes late. There were no soft smiles exchanged with Malik, no sly looks or brushing touches of fingers. Malik hadn't kissed him or made any breathless confessions of love. He had lain down, and they had done what boys sometimes will when they're alone, and they had left for dinner.

Luke was addicted. He stayed silent and walked along beside Malik. He didn't dare to comment about how good Malik looked in his dried out swim shorts and one of Luke's shirts, but he couldn't get enough of seeing it. 

Malik made some joke to which Luke didn't pay attention when they walked into the Thunder Room, and he headed off to find Karen and Johannes, and Luke plopped down next to Teddy and gave him an exhausted-but-satisfied smile.

"You're a lucky little prat, you know," Teddy said quietly.

Luke nodded and pulled a plateful of fried chicken over to himself. 

"So, not going to sit with your boyfriend?" Teddy said.

"Shut up, Teddy," Luke said, but his heart wasn't really in it.

Teddy frowned. "Trouble in paradise?"

"There's no paradise," Luke said.

"Sure there is," Teddy said. "You've just... you know..." A rather lewd animated tattoo appeared on Teddy's cheek.

Luke let out a little sigh and his chin dropped to the table. "Yeah, we did."

+----+

The third round of the tournament had Luke stepping out into the match first.

He was surprised to see his opponent: Karen stood with her wand in an easy grip at her side, her posture ready and waiting. They bowed to each other, and Karen faced Luke with a smug sneer. "Are you enjoying Malik?"

"Immensely," Luke shot back. "He does this thing with his legs... well, I really shouldn't kiss and tell."

"He never kisses boys," Karen said.

The referee blew the whistle for them to start, and Karen snapped into action, casting a silent spell that sent a bundle of energy at where Luke was standing, but Luke threw himself forward and came up with his wand thrusting already towards Karen.

"Asi!" he shouted, and a hot wind blew from behind him and sent her stumbling backwards. Before Karen could regain her feet, Luke yelled "Incarcerous!"

"Refrectus!" Karen yelled, and the ropes Luke had fired at her came unraveled as they rushed towards her. For a moment, he had no idea what she was trying to do, but then three waves of her wand had transformed the ropes into a net that flew straight back at him. Luke pointed his wand and cast an incendio. The net flared into flames and passed over Luke, and he followed up the fire magic with a serpensortia, summoning a long, yellow snake that immediately started towards Karen. He let it go without instructions, instead batting away Karen's stunner with a hasty shield charm. She threw up a slow-fading shield charm of some sort, and Luke scrambled to his feet and started whirling in circles. His wand stabbed out, to the left, forward, to the right, behind, to the left, forward, to the right, behind, over and over, and he chanted, as fast as he could, "ani asi paja wosi ani asi paja wosi ani asi paja wosi!"

Karen obviously recognized it as a spelldance, but safe behind her shield, she couldn't feel the winds Luke was summoning. She was countering with a spelldance of her own, and hers went off first.

Vines came up out of the ground, and just as Luke let go of his spell, the vines slammed him into the stone floor. Several things happened at once. The whirlwind, the tornado that Luke had been building raced across the floor and threw Karen quite hard against the far wall. Luke felt at least three ribs crack, a sensation he hadn't felt in years but which he could never have mistaken for anything else. Every other duel stopped, and Luke cried out "relashio!"

The vines shredded as they flew away from Luke and he dispelled his tornado with a flick of his wand. Karen was slumped at an awkward angle against the floor, but even as the referee declared Luke the winner of the duel, Karen was stirring. Luke breathed a sigh of relief. The blow that threw her out of the way had been anything but gentle, and he'd been genuinely worried for a moment. He let himself clutch at his injured ribs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, Malik is just an excellent way of fucking with Luke's head...


	16. The Shoe Trick Strikes Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell how punchy I'm feeling by how ridiculous the chapter title is.
> 
> Except chapter three. That one I just straight up forgot to put a title on.

The referee helped Karen up, and she weaved unsteadily on her way to shake his hand. 

"I hope I didn't hurt you too badly," Luke grated out through clenched teeth.

"I am okay," Karen said. "I think, maybe, I should not have teased you about Malik."

Luke started to reply, but breathed wrong, sucked in a sharp breath in surprise and pain, and yelled instead.

The duels around them finished up after a couple of very awkward minutes in which Karen was clearly trying not to look too concussed and Luke was trying not to look like he was having too much trouble breathing, and as soon as they were escorted back to the room where those who weren't immediately dueling waited, they were rushed to healers. When Luke came back, Teddy was just coming back in from the gymnasium. He'd obviously been hit with something fire-based, and from the way he was grinning, he'd won anyways. His charred robes crumbled a bit as he walked past Luke. 

"You're a crisp," Luke said.

"You got tenderized," Teddy replied evenly. "Professor Shelly was bragging to all the other teachers about how she taught you that spell."

Luke shook his head. "It almost didn't work."

"But it did work in the end," Teddy said. "Of course, she got you at the start with that transfiguration on the ropes. That was bloody brilliant."

Luke sat down next to Malik, but Malik was already getting up for his first round of the day. Luke watched him go, not bothering to disguise the look Malik put on his face.

"Luke, mate, you're totally smitten and everyone can tell," Teddy offered helpfully.

"Thanks," Luke said. He curled his legs up under him, sucking in a pained breath as his still-tender ribs flared with pain at the imprudent motion. "Not sure what I'd do without you."

Teddy threw an arm casually over Luke's shoulders. "You'd probably be miserable."

Luke looked at him, and surprised himself a bit when he teared up. "You're probably right." He leaned on his brother's shoulder, tears spilling onto Teddy's cinder of a robe.

"Luke," Teddy said.

Luke wiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just... I really don't know what's going on with Malik, and--"

"If anyone's got a right to get a bit teary, it's you, Luke," Teddy said, running a soothing hand over Luke's head. "You haven't exactly got it easy. But I thought things were all right with you and Malik."

Luke shook his head. "I don't even know anymore," Luke said.

Teddy squeezed him, and they sat silently for a few minutes. Somewhere in that time, Professor Shelly came and patched up Teddy and his robe. 

"I'm taking this thing off for the next duel," Teddy said when Professor Shelly had gone. "It's too bulky."

Malik came in and sat next to Luke. Luke looked up at his... friend? Lover? he didn't even know what to call Malik anymore, but he didn't have time to think about it. He was called up to face his next opponent, and he pulled off his Hogwarts robe, handed it to Teddy, and stepped out onto the floor. Things were definitely beginning to look a little sparse in the gymnasium. Luke knew they wouldn't be able to keep up the efficiency with which the matches had been run anymore, there just weren't enough people to keep a match going at all times. Of course, there would still end up being delays so that the duelists could recover.

Luke had been paired against a thickly-built boy who looked as though his usual response to a stunning spell was to grunt irritably and keep going. They bowed to each other, and the whistle blew to begin, and Luke was instantly forced to throw up a shield spell. 

The other boy's whiplike lash of energy cracked against Luke's shield, and Luke knew it was going to break the instant he made contact. Luke didn't recognize the spell, and without recognizing it, he couldn't fight it properly, so he sidestepped and took his shield down instead of risking what might happen if it was overwhelmed. Luke fired off three stunners in quick succession, which was enough to force the other boy to put up a shield and stop his assault.

Luke thought of the day Andromeda first offered to adopt him, and fired off the brightest patronus he could. He rarely used the spell, but it did sometimes have its uses in dueling, and as Luke's shining silver cobra flew at his opponent, Luke regained his footing and directed a blasting curse at the floor. Chunks flew up and Luke started banishing them at the other boy. As Luke's patronus faded, their duel devolved into a sort of high-stakes tennis match where the loser was going to get knocked out. Luke picked his moment carefully and cast a rebounding shield, and the chunks of floor bounced off of it and scattered in all directions just as the other boy cast a hex of some variety. It was too strong to be bounced right back, and something in the ceiling made a popping noise and started pouring water down on them. Luke yelled a freezing charm and sent the resulting improvised hailstones across the floor. The young pile of bricks he was dueling with mostly just took the blows, but he was forced to shield his eyes. Luke aimed carefully, and hit him with a conjuctivitis curse the instant his eyes were exposed.

Then he banished the boy's left shoe. It wasn't the most original trick, but the boy tried to respond with the by-then standard kick-the-shoe-at-their-crotch gambit and therefore stumbled backwards long enough for Luke to yell "expelliarmus!"

He caught his opponent's wand and the referee called their match done.

Luke looked around. His was the last to finish up. He shook the sea-wall's hand. "Where are you from?" he asked.

"Durmstrang," the boy said. "Good move, the shoe." 

Luke shrugged. "It's just a little variation, that's all."

The boy shrugged and headed into the little room.

Since Luke had managed to get through that duel without being injured, he sat down next to Teddy and Malik. 

"So, are we on shoes again?" Teddy asked.

"No, it's never going to work again," Luke said. "Worked brilliantly that time, though. Of course, he was muddling through on power alone. Not exactly the best and the brightest of Durmstrang."

"No brains to speak of," Teddy filled in. "Such a shame, since he's about as handsome as Argus Filch without a shower."

"Well, he can't coast on his looks knocking people unconscious for his whole life."

Malik laughed and nudged Luke with his foot, and then Teddy was up. This time, Luke watched as Teddy reduced his opponent to a quivering mess on the floor with a few cleverly chosen hexes and one very brilliant shield charm, plus a transfiguration that Luke thought would have earned Ravenclaw about a million points from Professor Orkney. His work on the hailstones had been all right, but Teddy had turned smoke into a shower of what Luke was fairly sure was shredded fiberglass insulation, which was why the quivering mess at Teddy's feet was also itching like mad. 

"I think we sell what Teddy turned the smoke into at the store," Malik said, confirming Luke's suspicions. Luke almost reached out to pat Malik's foot or make some other affectionate gesture, but he stopped himself, remembering that Malik probably wouldn't appreciate it all that much.

"Fiberglass insulation, right?" Luke said as the referees started leading Teddy and the others back inside.

"That is what I think it is," Malik said with a nod. 

"Thanks for telling me about fiberglass, Luke," Teddy said as he walked in. "I wouldn't have known how bad that would distract her if I hadn't known how bad it itches." He plunked himself down next to Luke again, grinning. "Bet you didn't know what it was."

"Well, the itching rather gave it away," Luke said, "and the color was a pretty good sign, too. You only get that kind of ugly out of fiberglass."

Teddy's unfortunately fiberglassed victim went by, coughing and itching.

Malik was up next, and his opponent actually seemed to prove herself to be something of a challenge; at least, Malik was grinning when he came back in after turning the poor girl into an impromptu wall-hanging.

+----+

When Luke and Malik got back from their visit to Malik's dormitory (he was rooming alone this time around, which Teddy said made him "a lucky little prat") after the duels, they got into dinner in the Thunder Room just in time to hear Teddy starting up about Al Capone's Fifth Tower again. He interrupted his latest rant on ways to find it for long enough to say "oh, hello, Luke," then went right back to detailing what sounded to Luke like a sonar system. Luke wondered if it had been entirely wise to start educating Teddy about science.

Naturally, Luke's doubts did not stop him from prodding Teddy on to new and interesting heights. "You should pick up some books about underwater exploration," Luke suggested. "What you're talking about sounds an awful lot like sonar, and if you can get that to work, then it would get a lot easier to find out if Capone's tower is really out there."  
Malik was about to respond when Karen came over and, with a cryptic, uninterpretable look at Luke, dragged him away. 

Teddy shrugged and started in on other plans for finding the Fifth Tower while nearby Rockhouse students told him which ones had already been tried. There were very few that hadn't.

After dinner, Malik came and dragged Luke off to his room. Luke expected to stay the night, but of course that didn't happen. They lay together for an hour or two, Malik burying his nose in Luke's hair.

"I enjoy the way you smell," Malik said. "It is... what is the word? It is attractive..."

"Sexy," Luke offered. 

Malik took another deep breath. "Sexy."

Luke rolled in Malik's arms. He nearly kissed him, but the look on Malik's face stopped him, a mix of laughing amusement and tired-out lust. For the lack of anything better to say, Luke awkwardly asked "do you think Teddy's got a chance of actually finding that stupid tower?"

"No," Malik said. "It does not exist. He is... being foolish."

Luke shook his head. "Teddy is only being curious. It's not that different than searching for the Chamber of Secrets, and people used to do that all the time before Potter found it."

"But the Chamber of Secrets exists," Malik said.

Luke wanted to argue, more to defend his brother than because he thought Teddy was right. One look at the teasing expression on Malik's face changed his mind, though. Luke burrowed his way down under the blankets, and when he and Malik came up for air again, Luke's head was swimming a bit. Malik may have enjoyed the way he smelled, but Luke was positively intoxicated by the smell of the two of them together. Malik let him snuggle up for a minute, then he sat up. "I will take a shower before I sleep. Do you want me to walk with you back to your room?"

Luke sighed. "No, I'll be fine on my own."

Malik turned on the lights and vanished into the little attached washroom, and Luke dressed with the fish outside the window for an audience. He chuckled a little bitterly to himself over what sort of things the fish around Rockhouse must have seen, and then he made the walk back to his and Teddy's dormitory. He opened the door, watched Teddy sleeping for a moment, and decided he'd rather be somewhere else, so he summoned his robes and a thick cloak and then a blanket off the bed for good measure, and, tousled hair and all, he made the long climb up to the very top of West Tower. 

Six hoops formed a quidditch pitch, coated with ice and snow, the wind mourning starkly through them. Snow blew powdery and frigid across the flat tower-top, and somehow Luke wasn't at all surprised when Teddy put a hand on his shoulder and drew the blanket around them both to keep warm.

"You've got sex hair," Teddy said.

"Shut up, Teddy," Luke said.

Teddy tousled Luke's hair and pretended disgust, wiping some imaginary offending substance off on his trousers. Luke laughed.


	17. Marissa

Luke tried to stay away from Malik the next day, but by noon, Malik had found him, sitting in the bottom-most observation room in South Tower and watching the fish go by with Teddy. They were playing Exploding Snap with a couple of younger Rockhouse students who thought that Luke was just about the most fascinating person in the world. When Malik sat down next to him, Luke turned a look on him that he really hoped wasn't dripping with as much longing as he suspected it was.

"Hello, Luke," Malik said.

Luke tapped four cards in quick sequence and then their youngest companion, a boy who couldn't have been more than eight years old, made an eight-card chain and Teddy shook his head. "Not fair."

Luke shifted uncomfortably, and Malik grinned at him. 

"Hi," Luke said. 

Malik watched the game, and then he joined in with the next one, and at the end of that, the boys they had been playing with left, taking the cards with them. Luke found a couch to flop onto. He had been comfortable for about half a second when Malik picked up his legs and seated himself so that Luke's feet were in his lap. Considering that it was about the most affection he was going to get out of Malik outside of a bed, he accepted it, letting Malik stroke his legs absentmindedly while Teddy took over a seat nearby.

"So I did some reading in the library last night," Teddy said. "About Al Capone. It turns out he went n record a few times saying he swore to come back as a ghost, but nobody has ever seen his ghost around anywhere."

"Maybe he was more at peace than he thought," Luke said. Malik started drumming gently on Luke's shins, and Luke watched him for a minute, but Malik was clearly doing it completely without thinking about it, his brow furrowed in thought. 

At last, Malik said "There is only one ghost in Greenland. Her name is Haelga Thorsdottr. She was a witch who traveled with a ship full of Vikings, because her husband was the captain. The ship had a wizard, also. Haelga fell in love with the wizard, and when her husband found out that he was... was..."

"Cuckolded," Luke supplied.

"That, if it is what you say, yes. When he found out, he killed his wife when she was asleep. She rose as a ghost and went to her lover, and he promised to return as a ghost also so they could be together, but when Haelga's husband killed him, he did not rise. Now Haelga wanders alone in Greenland, scaring the Verdslige and sometimes coming and talking to the wizards and witches. We worry about her, because she is very sad."

Luke grinned at the thought of a ghost dressed as a Viking warrior woman popping up in the middle of some Muggle village somewhere and scaring the living daylights out of everyone just for a way to kill time. He had to imagine that if she wound up in a good mood, Haelga Thorsdottr would probably be good for a chuckle or two, not that that was Malik's point.

"So if not everyone can become ghosts when they die," Luke began.

"It is not a choice that you make," Malik interrupted. "If you are going to become a ghost, then you simply become a ghost. I have heard that one of the Hogwarts teachers is a ghost. Did he decide to be a ghost?"

"Oh, probably," Luke said.

"Professor Binns hasn't done anything new in four hundred years," Teddy added.

"And since breathing means you have to take in new air," Luke said.

Teddy finished out the joke with a happy declaration of "respiration was really just far too exciting and had to be stopped!"

Malik blinked at the rote completion of the joke, but seemed to decide that it was fun rather than annoying or unsettling, so he didn't say anything about it. instead, he lapsed into silence, and pretty soon Teddy was specualting about what might be in Capone's Tower if not Capone's ghost.

+----+

A couple of days later, Teddy roped a somewhat tired Luke into helping him look through books at the library right after spelldancing lessons. He had been working with Malik on perfecting their rain dance (something of a tall order), and Malik had kept him up for half the night before that.

"Teddy, I just want to go to bed," Luke protested as they walked into the library.

"You know Professor Shelly will ask you why you're do tired if you go to bed this early," Teddy reminded him.

Luke yawned and watched Teddy disappear between two stacks of books. "I'm sure Professor Shelly knows by now that I'm shagging Malik."

"No she doesn't" Teddy's voice said from out of the stacks. There was the sound of several books being pulled off the shelf, and then he reappeared. "She knows you're always pining after him. She knows if you had a tower with a little room and a window you would spend all day at the window waiting for him to ride up on a thestral with a shrinking potion and a bottle of clouds."

Luke shook his head. "I understood everything until the thestral," Luke said.

Teddy took the books over to one of the tables. The Rockhouse library was under the waterline, near the bottom of the South Tower. Large windows looked out into the lake, and bright lights outside the windows not only provided diffuse, calming illumination, they also attracted quite a few fish and afforded a view of the lakebed for people sitting at the tables Teddy preferred. Luke looked out the window. There were four sunken boats: two that were hardly more than coracles, a muggle fishing boat, and a three-masted sailing ship at the edge of the lights' range. 

"They won't have changed," Teddy said. He put the books down on the table. "Here, I've got one more to find, you watch these. Don't let that librarian come and collect these." Before Luke could so much as comfirm that he would do as Teddy asked, Teddy had hurried off. Luke sat down and pulled one of the books to him. He snorted with amusement. It was Reigns of the Dark Lords: An Overview, although it wasn't the version he was familiar with. This one boasted five whbole chapters about criminals who had never styled themselves Dark Lords and yet had held their communities in effectively identical terror. He started leafing through that section, obviously the bit Teddy was after, and was completely unsurprised to find that one whole chapter was devoted to Al Capone. Luke was just reaching for another book, having lost interest in the chapter in Reigns, when Teddy sat down across from him and handed him a book of fairy stories. 

"Why?" Luke said.

"Chapter seven," Teddy replied as though that was the most in-depth explanation available. Luke knew better than to press him for more information, so he opened the book to the chapter in question, which was called "The Tower of Morgan le Fay and the Thestral-Rider of Gaul".

By the time Luke set the book down, he got Teddy's reference to the tower and the thestral and the shrinking potion, though he thought that the bottle of clouds was probably the dumbest thing he had ever heard of, and he was sure it didn't exist. Nevertheless, he got up and went to go and find out if such a thing existed or could be made to exist. An hour and a half later, he was sleepily charming steam into a bottle transfigured from a pencil when Teddy said "I think you should stop shagging Malik."

Luke's jaw fell open. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I think you ought to stop shagging Malik," Teddy repeated. "It's making you miserable."

"No it's bloody not," Luke said. He tried unsuccesfully to stifle a yawn. 

"Luke," Teddy said with as much kindness as he could muster, "he doesn't even let you sleep with him."

"It's no-strings sex, Teddy."

Teddy shook his head, still focused on his book. "No, Luke. Malik is having no-strings sex, but you're shagging a bloke you're crazy about, and I'm starting to wonder if you're mental to be so mental for him in the first place."

"He just doesn't do the whole boyfriend thing," Luke explained.

"Of course not," Teddy said. "He only gets the benefit of it without any of the having to care about your feelings."

Luke scooped up his bottle and left the library. 

Twenty minutes later he showed up at the door to Malik's dormitory. Malik answered Luke's knock sleepily, but when Luke held up a bottle that was definitely not full of steam anymore, Malik just raised an eyebrow and let Luke in.

"Where did your bottle come from?" Malik wondered quietly.

"I transfigured it," Luke said. "What do you say we drink it and see what happens?"

Even as Malik opened the bottle and took a swig, Luke knew he was making a mistake. Malik handed him the bottle, and Luke took a long pull at it, and it just felt so damn good that he took another three swallows before he handed it back to Malik.

Malik drank less than a third of the bottle, and he ended up about half as far gone as Luke. Which was not to say that Luke was useless by the bottom of the bottle--far from it, he was coordinated enough to push Malik back onto the bed. 

Luke was surprised when Malik reached up to kiss him, hooking unsteady hands around the back of his neck. 

It wasn't the best it had ever been, but as far as Luke was concerned, the kissing more than made up for it, and when he fell asleep afterwards, Malik didn't evict him from the bed. For only the second time in his life, Luke woke up in the morning with a warm body curled up beside him. Someone was knocking on the door, and Malik scrambled out of the bed--Luke ogled him the whole way to the door--and curled his head around the slight opening. He spoke quickly in Greenlandic--or possibly Danish, Luke couldn't remember--with someone right outside the door, and then he closed the door and turned back to look at Luke.

"We should take showers," Malik said, very matter-of-fact.

Luke swallowed the lump that formed in his throat at Malik's flat declaration. He stood up and grabbed Malik's hand.

"Can't we--"

"We do not have long before breakfast, Luke," Malik said.

Luke sighed. He knew better than to try to kiss Malik, and he knew better than to suggest that they should shower together. He let Malik go and shower on his own, then collapsed back onto the bed. His head hurt, his stomach was upset, and he was just generally miserable, but only the night before, Malik had kissed him and held him.  
Luke rolled onto his side. If he was only drinking with Malik...

Malik came out of the washroom and gestured to Luke that it was free. Luke showered, and when he came out, Malik was gone. 

He picked up the bottle and went to breakfast.

+----+

 _Dear Luke_ (Gene's letter ran),

_I have to say that I'm concerned to hear from you about what happened with Malik the other day. I hope my letter finds you before you leave Rockhouse. You can't drink just to be together with him.  
Luke, I love you, and if it's a real, romantic relationship you're looking for, I'll help you to find it, but what you're doing with Malik isn't healthy.   
Please, Luke, don't keep drinking just to get him to be more intimate with you._

_Love and concern,  
Gene._

 

Luke folded the letter and tossed it onto the seat next to him. 

"He's right," Teddy said, looking out the window of the Hawthorn. 

Luke drew his legs up in front of him. Malik was off talking to a girl who had been beaten in the fourth round of competition. She was bright green from the nose up, but definitely quite pretty.

"He's a good friend, but he's obviously a terrible lover," Teddy continued.

"He's not my lover, he's just someone I do stamina training with," Luke said. He picked a spot on the floor and stared at it. "It's good fun. And how do you know what Gene's said?"

"Victoire told me Gene was going to try to talk to you about Malik," Teddy said. "You know, Luke, you really ought to try dating Marissa, instead."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I've already told you that's never going to happen," Luke said.

"Oh, come on, Luke, she's gorgeous."

Luke glared at Teddy. "Then why don't you ask her out?"

Teddy blushed and darkened his skin to cover it. Who he thought he was fooling was beyond Luke. "She's not really my type."

"And here I thought you liked blondes," Luke said.

Teddy glared at him, obviously miffed over the reference to Victoire, and Luke was only a little satisfied when his brother walked away in a huff. Ever since their argument in the library, it had been like that, Teddy needling Luke about his relationship with Malik, and, more importantly, about his admission that he had been drinking with the other boy.  
Malik sat down next to Luke. "She did not want to speak much to me," he said by way of explanation. Luke nodded.

"Is something bad?" Malik asked.

It took Luke a second or two to puzzle out his meaning, and then he shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Just not getting along with Teddy so well lately."

Malik patted luke's leg, and Luke tried to smile. He managed to at least get out a small smile.

+----+

Gene greeted Luke with a big hug when they got back to Hogwarts. Teddy hadn't said anything more about Malik on the plane or on the train, and Luke was therefore able to maintain a slightly fragile peace with him: they were on the same thestral-drawn carriage.

Gene let go of Luke, grabbed him by the shoulders, and moved Luke around him, putting him face-to-face with Marissa. She was holding Fortinbras, and the cat jumped down from her arms and went up to sniff at Luke's legs. 

Luke scooped him up. "Hello, Fort." He hugged Marissa and added "hello, Marissa," to his sentiments.

Marissa hugged Luke as well, and she followed up with a kiss on the cheek. "Fortinbras missed you almost as much as me," Marissa informed him. "He was coming back down to the Slytherin common room again, sitting outside of your dormitory." Luke turned and saw Teddy gesturing him towards Marissa. He rolled his eyes pointedly at the Ravenclaw and smirked a bit when Teddy's hair turned pea-soup green. 

Luke let Marissa take his bag, and he cuddled Fortinbras all the way down to the Slytherin common room. Finally, once Luke was settled in, Marissa stood up, rather imperiously grabbed his hand, and led him out of the common room. Given that it was still relatively early, there were students about, although classes were over. 

She led him down the familiar path to Professor Leiman's office, and Luke began to get the feeling he knew what was coming.

He was right. 

As soon as she opened the door to Professor Leiman's office, Luke knew this conversation was going to be unpleasant. Leiman had music playing, and he was leaning back in his chair, meticulously cleaning a disassembled rifle. Luke thought he recognized Aerosmith.

Leiman flicked a hand lazily in the direction of what appeared to be an old-fashioned Victrola record player, the kind with an external amplifying horn instead of speakers, and the music stopped in the middle of Steven Tyler screaming about winking at witches and howling at moons. It made exactly the needle scratching to a stop sound, which Luke suspected was quite deliberate on Professor Leiman's part.

Leiman continued to casually clean out the detached barrel of the gun and calmly regarded Luke. "So, Luke. Here we are. I hear you're drinking again."

Luke winced. "Well, Professor, I wouldn't say I've been drinking. I mean, I had a few nips, but--"

Leiman set the barrel of the gun down with a clunk that managed to be both very quiet, very careful, and oppresively ominous. 

"You're going to stop drinking," Leiman said. "Do you know what this is, Luke?"

Luke swallowed. "A gun?"

"This is an M16A2 rifle, Luke. In order to keep it clean, I have to take it apart and clean each part individually. I have to use a bore brush," he waved the somewhat wicked-looking brush in his hand at Luke, "to clean out the barrel. So I have to shove this into it, and after I've done that, it gets lubricated. Don't put me in charge of making sure you're clean, Luke."

Luke rather abruptly found it hard to speak.

Professor Leiman watched Luke for a minute. "I also hear that you're being a lot more casual about sex than I would let any student under my direct supervision be. Combine that with drinking again and I'll have to introduce you to the bore brush. You're a Slytherin, and I understand that. You enjoy breaking rules, to a certain extent, and nothing I do is going to change that. But don't. Push. It. My daughter-in-law can always be clued in, and it's not as though your conduct is excused by your being in a tournament."

Luke nodded "Yes sir. I'm sorry, sir."

Professor Leiman watched him for a minute. "So," he said, waving his hand and starting the music back up. "How was Rockhouse in January?"

"Very cold, Professor," Luke said. 

Professor Leiman smiled just as amiably as if he hadn't just been making ominous, vaguely sodomitic threats. "I would expect as much," he said.

Luke told Professor Leiman all about the duels he had won, and he very carefully avoided the subject of Malik, which he was absolutely positive Professor Leiman noticed and chose to ignore. After about five minutes, Professor Leiman offered him a chair, and Luke and Marissa both gladly accepted the offer. Marissa paid rapt attention to his story, and Professor Leiman eventually finished cleaning his rifle (he seemed to clean the barrel with very pointed vigor) and put it away.

"There's rumors of a Fifth Tower, too," Luke said after he had squeezed everything he could out of the narrative of the duels. "They say that it was built by Al Capone." Luke's expression showed what he thought of the story. "Teddy's basically obsessed with finding it."

"Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true," Professor Leiman said. "Capone was about as paranoid about his magical endeavors as Tom Riddle was. He made plenty of odd little hideaways and vaults. I'm sure some haven't been discovered, and the rumors about Rockhouse have been floating around for decades. It's not as strange as you might think."

Luke shook his head. "But why at his school?"

"Because," Professor Leiman said, "Rockhouse is one of the most secure locations in the entire world. Large bodies of water play merry hell with many modes of magical transportation. There's a reason you've been taking airlines to America. And then there's the fact that Rockhouse is warded to be able to serve as potential housing for the wizarding population of six states in an extreme emergency. Hiding something in or around Rockhouse is a bit like hiding it in or around a nest of dragons."  
"But if people have been looking for it for so long, shouldn't someone have found it by now?" Luke asked.

Professor Leiman shrugged. "The rumors started because there are occasional sightings of the Fifth Tower. Not very often, only about once a year, two or three times in a very full year."

Luke sighed. "I see." He looked down at the legs of Professor Leiman's desk. "Please don't tell that to Teddy, he'll be even more determined."

"I'm sure if he's been researching, he already knows all about that," Professor Leiman retruned. "But I won't encourage him if you don't want me to."

"Thanks you, Professor," Luke said. 

They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Professor Leiman dismissed them and Luke followed Marissa to, of all places, the swear-chair room. 

"You didn't hex people so their drinks would spill on them this morning, did you?" Luke asked as he settled down in a chair.

"No," Marissa said. "I can't be sure Gene didn't, though. Luke, you and I need to talk about Malik."

"I don't see why," Luke said. "It's not as though he's relevant to you."

Marissa flinched at Luke's appraisal of the situation. "I think he's very relevant to me. Even if you and I are just friends, he's making you miserable. Luke, you're in love, and it's hopeless, and you're just... you're killing yourself over this boy, and he's not worth it. He's an excellent friend, and I understand that, but you have to change this. Get him to change his mind about you, or stop... stop what... what you're doing with him."

"What am I doing?" Luke said.

Marissa turned bright red. "You're having sex with him. And you need to stop, or you need to have a very serious talk with him and tell him--"

"That if he doesn't love me, he's not going to be my friend?"

Marissa shook her head. "That if he's not willing to treat it as..." she turned a little redder, "more than sex, then he can't have it anymore."

Luke leaned back and started picking at the phrase "Professor Binns died of the Covent Garden Ague."

Marissa gave him a pleading look, and Luke sighed. "I suppose you want me to talk to him now?"

She nodded. "I hate to see you unhappy, Luke." She reached beside the chair she was on and picked up the notebook that Malik had sent to Luke.

Luke stared at it. "You've been keeping it in here?"

"It was the easiest place, and we left a note for the house-elves."

Luke took the notebook and opened it to the first blank page. Malik was sketching, Karen napping, laid out across a few folding chairs. Marissa handed Luke a quill, the special Weasley Wizard wheezes sort that was charmed to never run dry.

"Malik?" Luke wrote.

Malik stopped making progress of the sketch. "Hello, Luke," he wrote back.

Luke curled up on the couch, his feet drawn up underneath him. He stared at the page, his quill poised over it. Malik started writing something else and Luke pressed his quill to the page and started writing.

"I love you, Malik, and I think we need to talk about our relationship," Luke wrote.

Several drops of ink appeared on the page. Malik must have been holding his own quill poised still above the paper. Finally, he wrote back.

"What do you mean?"

Luke sighed, gathering his courage. He tried to think like a Gryffindor, but it was very, very difficult. He nearly shut the notebook, but Marissa was sitting there on her chair, watching him.

Luke put his quill to the page. "I am in love with you, Malik," he wrote.

He stared at the blank page for a few minutes, wondering if Malik had gone away.

"I am not in love with you," Malik wrote back. 

Luke's heart seemed to shrivel up in his chest, but he took in a deep breath. "You don't have to love me right away," he wrote. "You only have to be with me. Let me kiss you."

Two lines down from where Luke was writing, Malik wrote "I thought that you could be Okay with fucking."

"Well, obviously I can't." Luke looked down at the page. His hands were shaking, and his heart was racing. Marissa watched him from across the room.

Luke stared at the page. 

"I think we should not talk for now. I do not want a kaereste."

Luke silently cast a charm to translate the foreign word, but he already knew that, when translated, it would say "boyfriend."

He was right.

"Luke?" was scrawled across the page. He slammed it shut, but not before a couple of tears dripped to the page. He knew that Malik would know he had been driven to tears. Luke tossed the notebook away, and Marissa stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Luke leaned into his friend's embrace, and she stroked his hair, whispering words that he didn't catch and couldn't really care about. He let himself sob against her.

+----+

Luke fell asleep in Marissa's arms, and at some point he woke up with his head resting on her lap. She was stroking his hair, and Teddy was sitting across the little room from them in a chair covered in carved obscenities. Luke squeezed his eyes shut, and Teddy said "he's awake."

Luke shook his head. "No, 'm not."

"Yes you are," Teddy said. "It's after midnight, Luke. You've got to go to the Slytherin common room. I'm guessing..."

Luke nodded, still refusing to open his eyes. "He said he didn't want a boyfriend."

"If I come up against him in the tournament, I'll rip him in two," Teddy said. 

Luke shook his head. "Please, Teddy."

Teddy sighed. "Luke, I'm sorry. Please, don't clam up."

Luke sat up, and Teddy walked out of the room. Marissa stood up, but Luke grabed her wrist.

She sat back down.

"Marissa, I'm sorry," Luke said.

Marissa watched him with big, wide, grey eyes. "Sorry?" she said.

Luke nodded. "I'm not always the most self-aware person in the world, you know that. i guess I've only just realized how I've been treating you. It hasn't been as badly as Malik's treated me, but you're one of my best friends in the whole world, and I'm pretty sure you're totally mental for me, and I've been keeping you at arm's length, and... and we were practically dating at the start of our second year--"

"Luke, by the middle of second year I'd turned on you twice."

Luke shook his head. "You weren't even thirteen yet, Marissa. You deserve better than I've done by you. I told you once that you and I were never going to date, and I meant it at the time, but... I can't promise you anything, Marissa, you've got to understand that, but I'd like to take you to Hogsmeade on the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"I'd love to go with you, Luke," Marissa said after what seemed like a very, very long time indeed.

He held her hand and she hugged him, and he wasn't quite sure where the kiss began, but he knew it wasn't about lust or sex, it was about comfort. She held onto him.  
They got back to the common room at a little after one. Heironymous Runel and a few of his friends were still up, studying for exams. He looked up when they came in, took one look at Luke with his red-rimmed eyes and his hand in Marissa's, and said "Wow, Restimen. I didn't figure you for the sort to cry during sex."

"Runel," Marissa said, "if you don't clam up right now, I'll curse you. We didn't do anything, and you need to leave Luke alone."

"More to the point," Luke said, "do you really think it's wise to take the mickey out of someone who's spent the last few months training to win an international dueling competition?"

Runel fell silent, and Luke nodded brusquely before he hugged Marissa and went to the fourth year dormitories. 

+----+

Luke awoke from dreams of Tom Riddle's childhood to find that his Sunday was totally free. He didn't feel up to trying to build up his relationship with Marissa yet, so he wandered down through the grounds to Hagrid's hut. He knocked on the door, and Hagrid called out "come in!"

Luke opened the door... and froze. 

Mark Jonson and Aaron Roulers were sitting at Hagrid's table. Mark's eyes locked onto Luke's, and he froze for a second. Luke took a deep, steadying breath, and he strode in and sat down on the opposite side of Hagrid from his ex-boyfriend.

"Hello, Mark, Aaron," Luke said.

"Hello, Luke," Mark said.

Aaron grunted a wordless acknowledgement. 

"Yeh haven' bin down much ter see me this year, have yeh, Luke?" Hagrid said. "'Course, I 'magine that's 'cause of the tournament."

"Yeah," Luke said. "But you know you're a wonderful person for me to talk to."

Hagrid patted Luke on the back. Luke did a quick mental check to be sure he still had a spine.

"I hear you quit drinking," Mark said.

Luke nodded.

"That's good," Mark said. "I'm happy for you. It was a terrible habit. You haven't had any relapses, have you?"

"I've had a couple," Luke said. "But Professor Leiman has made it clear that I'm not to have any more."

"Prob'ly best ter listen ter him," Hagrid offered unnecessarily.

"And you're dating Harry Cobham?" Aaron said. It seemed a bit pointed. 

Hagrid had just put a cup of tea down in front of Luke. Luke took a sip, breathed in the scent of the tea, and said, "quit worrying, Aaron, I'm not going to shag your boyfriend." Hagrid spluttered at Luke's words, and Luke went on as though he hadn't had any effect on anyone. "Being told off as thoroughly as Mark told me off when we broke up has the rather unfortunate effect of killing all the romance."

"You can't deny you needed it," Mark said. 

Luke raised up his cup in a sort of mock-salute, and Mark sighed. "We should go, Aaron. If Luke's come out here on his own, he wants to talk to Hagrid alone. Thanks for the tea, Hagrid."

"Yer welcome any time, Mark," Hagrid said.

As they stood up and walked out, Aaron was sure to plant a claiming sort of kiss on Mark's cheek. Luke sighed. "Well, that could have gone better. Could have been worse, too, but it could have gone better."

Hagrid nodded. "What's wrong, Luke?"

"I just need someone to tell about everything that's been going on."

Hagrid nodded sagely, and then he listened, without a word of judgement, while Luke told him everything.

It felt good to get it off of his chest, and he went to lunch feeling a lot better.

+----+

That afternoon, Luke sat with his friends in the swear-chair room, with his feet up in Gene's lap and his head on Marissa's. She stroked his hair absently. Luke had found that she liked to stroke his hair, and he couldn't exactly complain about that. 

"So are you two a couple now?" Teddy asked.

Luke looked at Marissa, and she shrugged. "I suppose so. A bit. I mean, I've got to put all the pieces back together right. He's still a bit broken, isn't he? But we'll get through all that together."

Luke snuggled into Marissa's lap. "I think plenty of talking to Hagrid will probably help," he said.

+----+

Luke and Marissa didn't even kiss for that first week. They sat up late in whatever place they could find that was private, and more often than not, Luke cried on her shoulder, and she held onto him. Sometimes, they talked about Malik, and about Gene, and even about Mark. Sometimes they talked about Teddy, or about alcohol, or about Tom Riddle, or Luke's mother. He told her how he felt, and Marissa accepted it all. Finally, on Monday, it was too much.

"I remember how it felt, each time he killed," Luke said. He was sitting curled up in the corner of a couch in a secluded study area that reminded him of the observation rooms at Rockhouse. "I suppose that must seem like a strange thing to tell you, but... it felt powerful, sometimes, and like being sure that I... that he was right. If it was possible to kill someone, then it seemed like it was only the right thing that they should die. I guess there's something very Darwinian about that, if you really think about that, but Tom Riddle isn't natural selection, he's only a man with a hell of a lot more power than humanity."

Marissa reached across the couch and her hand rested on Luke's knee. He smiled a fragile smile. "I can remember exactly how it felt to be able to hold out a wand... to hold out my wand, because that's how I remember it, the wand was always my wand, in my hand, and forget it if it looked different, they were mine. He was only ever nervous once, when he went to kill Harry Potter. Then, he was careful, and cautious, and he made sure that only a few trusted people knew where he was going."

Marissa squeezed Luke's knee, and she seemed to know instinctively--she always seemed to know instinctively--that it was time to stem the flow of words. She gathered him up in her arms and Luke kissed her, as naturally as if he'd done it a million times.

Marissa's eyes went a bit wide. "Why," she began, but Luke stopped her.

"I don't think I'll always need a reason, but this time it's because you've just proved, again, that you're not the same girl that turned on me two years ago." He squeezed her hand and found himself straddling her waist, not entirely sure how he'd gotten there. She kissed him without his having to start it. "Hell of a time for a first kiss," Luke said.

"That's not our first kiss," Marissa said, vaguely offended.

Luke shook his head. "We've got four first kisses. In first year, when you kissed me after you gave me that valentine, and then after we became friends again, and then a week ago, when you kissed me because I needed it, and then just now."

Marissa pushed him off of her. "Get off before we have another first. I'm not ready for that yet."

Luke sat down next to her, kissing her on the cheek. "I'm probably not either."

Marissa held Luke's hand. She leaned into his side. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

She pulled out her wand and cast a few privacy spells, then she held Luke a little closer. Marissa took a deep breath. "Luke, my mother didn't want me." Luke opened his mouth to protest, but Marissa forestalled him. "Oh, she loves me, but... she told me about my father. she won't say who he is. He's... already been punished, and that's all she'll tell me. But he was a Death Eater. Mum told me this over the summer, and I haven't told anyone... but... but my mother was raped. It was during the second war, and it was... it was how I was conceived. I don't know how she lives with it, because it's awful enough that I have to live with knowing. Not that I blame her for telling me. I needed to know. But it's hard to know that I'm the reason she was so miserable."

"You're not the reason," Luke said. "Whoever it was that did that awful thing to her is the reason. You're the wonderful thing that came out of that terrible crime."

Marissa smiled gently. "That's what Mum told me."

Luke stroked her hands and drew her close. "That's because it's true. If something like that had to happen, then I think you coming into the world was just so it could be balanced out."

Marissa leaned on Luke, and for once, she was the one crying while he supported her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six. Thousand. Words. in. One. Day.
> 
> This is what happens when I take a break. I'll be slowing the pace after i crack 50k tomorrow, so you can expect this to be finished sometime in February if it gets really, really drawn out to ridiculous proportions.
> 
> Anyways, Luke and all of his friends did a crapton of writing themselves this update, so the plot went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but I think it'd going to be better for it.


	18. Fifty

By the time the first Hogsmeade visit of the year came around, pretty much everyone could see that Luke and Marissa were a couple. It might have had something to do with the snogging in the corridors and common room, or it might have been the extra time they spent together without the rest of the League, but Luke suspected it was probably mostly the endless and very loud I-told-you-so-ing coming from Teddy. He seemed almost inordinately pleased to have predicted Luke and Marissa's getting together. Victoire thought it was sweet, and Gene kept teasing Luke about getting turned off of guys by Malik, which had some wonderfully acidic overtones regarding Malik. 

But of course, things couldn't go perfectly. Things going perfectly for him, Luke suspected, was a concept that incensed the very fundamental laws of the universe. 

The morning of the visit, Marissa put down a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Luke. Where she had gotten it, he didn't know, but he had certainly seen a lot more of the paper scattered around than usual. He looked at the front headline and his head dropped to the table.

"It's never simple, is it?" Luke said.

The Prophet's front page story was malingering under the headline "Death Eaters Do It Again!"

Teddy grabbed the paper and read the article as fast as he could, which was very fast indeed, and from the various noises he made in reaction to the article, he didn't like what the Prophet had to say.

"You'd better read this and then talk to Professor Leiman," Teddy said.

Luke took the paper and read.

_Once again, the Death Eater menace threatens our society, writes Percival Weasley, Senior Ministry Correspondent. Less than two years ago, as we all know, the remains of Lord Voldemort's organization of dark wizards launched an unprecedented attack on the Hogwarts Express and kidnapped Luke Restimen, the young Hogwarts student whose well-known connection to Voldemort has caused a great stir in recent years. Although eight of the Death Eaters responsible for the attack were killed by Hogwarts Potions instructor and Order of the Phoenix alumn James Leiman, at least ten are known to have escaped.  
Now, the hope we have had that their assault on the Hogwarts Express would be their last move is gone. An arrest made in the magical quarter of London yesterday exposed the resurgence of a dark society we would all rather forget. Jonas Jermander, a minor figure in Voldemort's infamous group, agreed last night to give information to Ministry officials in exchange for leniency. The information he gave was startling.  
The Death Eaters, it seems, are plotting to take over, with or without their Dark Lord, and to that end, they have secretly committed several dozen crimes over the last two years. Even as this edition of the Daily Prophet prints, aurors are raiding businesses and private residences with known and suspected connections to the new Death Eater heirarchy, but citizens are warned that it is doubtful the Death Eaters will be brought to their knees by this counterstrike._

The article devolved into tips and advice on what to do in the event of a Death Eater attack, and then there was a list, complete with pictures, of all known Death Eaters at large. They glowered out of their pictures, looking like the sullen criminals they were, except for a few that were obviously not mugshots, but rather confiscated snapshots. One of the Death Eaters was laughing. Another was eating cake.

A few of them triggered an uncomfortable feeling of recognition in Luke, as well as an inherent trust like that of a leader for his effective underlings. Luke closed the paper, and at the uncomfortable feeling that someone was watching him, he said "hello, Professor Gills."

Professor Gills said, "Luke, please come with me for a moment."

Luke stood up and followed Professor Gills out of the Great Hall. Professor Leiman and Headmaster Flitwick were waiting in the Entrance Hall.

"Luke," Professor Leiman said. "Obviously, you've read the news by now."

Luke nodded. He had a feeling he knew where Marissa's Daily Prophet had come from.

"Good," Professor Leiman said. "Then you'll understand why we want you to go to Hogsmeade today."

Luke blinked, thbinking it through from several different angles, and then the answer popped into his head. "Hogwarts has proven to be vulnerable to a concerted attack in the past, and if the Death Eaters strike in a panic, they're more likely to do so here than at Hogsmeade. If they do strike against me, an auror at Hogsmeade will be able to apparate to safety with me, whereas if there were an attack on the grounds of Hogwarts, that would be impossible. There's probably also someone in Hogsmeade that you want me to meet up with, which I really hope won't interfere with my date."

Professor Leiman winced. "You'll have to make apologies to Marissa," he said. "I'm afraid you're going to be meeting up with our chief expert on Death Eaters, and he may run on a bit."

Luke frowned. "Who would that be?"

+----+

Azkaban, Luke decided when he sat down in the Three Broomsticks two hours later, had not been kind to Draco Malfoy.

To start with, there was the fact that he was halfway through his fourth decade, naturally pale beyond belief, and had the sort of sharp, pointy features Luke normally expected of gardening equipment. But Professors Longbottom and Shelly had both told Luke stories of a young man who had been an absolute prick, but an energetic, or at least a vigorous prick. Fourteen years should not have resulted in a boy who Luke surmised was like a more ambitious Heironymous Runel turning into a man with bags under his eyes that an airline would require him to store in the cargo hold. Nor should he have moved as listlessly as he did. Draco Malfoy, in short, was a wreck, with the air of someone who had been a wreck for a very long time indeed and who would continue to be a wreck to some degree for the remainder of his life. Luke almost apologized on instinct, but from the look on the older man's face as he settled into the booth across from Luke, that would have been a bad idea. 

Grey eyes gone dull did their best to bore into Luke, and he met them evenly, then Malfoy snorted in amusement and a strange half-sneer crossed his face.

"Well, you're hardly a terrifying Dark Lord. I'm not sure what Potter got all up in arms about, but then, he's always been a paranoid git." He said it with a kind of exasperated tolerance, as though Potter's paranoia and gitness were unavoidable facts of the universe and should be treated in much the same way as toast landing with the buttered side down.

"Well, Mister Malfoy," Luke said, "I'd have to say Tom Riddle didn't look like a Dark Lord at my age either. Potter is absolutely a paranoid git, but he absolutely did have... sort of the ghost of a point. And I did end up using the Cruciatus Curse on Heironymous Runel."

Madam Rosmerta put a butterbeer in front of Malfoy, and he sipped it consideringly. "I imagine he deserved it. The Runels have always been unpleasant little toads with all the brains of Rowena Ravenclaw's favorite flobberworm. I was honestly a bit impressed when I heard about that. Thought it was about time somebody told them where they belonged. Of course, that's not what we're here about. Maximilian Runel, as a dead man, falls squarely into the circle of people I trust the most."

"His son was all ready to swear allegiance to me when he thought I was Voldemort reborn," Luke said. Malfoy flinched at the name, and his hand went, probably without his knowing it, to his left sleeve. Luke politely ignored his discomfiture and bulled on, "do we know who's in charge of the Death Eaters?"

Malfoy sighed. "Thorfinn Rowle is the most likely suspect."

Luke cast back in his memory and suddenly started laughing. "Oh my god, really? Little Thorfy?"

Malfoy stared blankly.

Luke chuckled and pulled took a long swig of his pumpkin juice. "I'm sorry, it's just, I've got this memory of Einarr and Grelod showing me... or, you know, showing Riddle... this little baby before the first war even started, and he was just this absolutely charming little pudgy thing who wouldn't stop grabbing at the bottoms of robes. To think of that trying to kill me... it's a bit funny, is all."

Malfoy shook his head. "Please don't speak so casually about what you remember of the Death Eaters."

"Afraid I'll say something about your father?" Luke said.

"Yes, I am," Malfoy confirmed. "There are plenty of things about Lucius Malfoy that I'd prefer not to know. He's dead. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"I suppose that's fair enough," Luke said. "But we're not here to reminisce. You'd know Rowle better than me. Why has he reformed the Death Eaters?"

Malfoy seemed to get a faraway look in his eyes as though he was thinking about--and seeing--a place very much more remote than the Three Broomsticks. "He made an effort to get Riddle back, but you must have noticed that he only made one effort and that he probably wasn't actually there for the effort. I doubt he's reformed the Death Eaters in order to get together for tea once a month, but he's not doing it to restore Riddle to power, either. Riddle would have been a tool to him, nothing more. Rowle is setting himself up as a new Dark Lord. I've already told this to Potter, but he's stuck on the idea of Riddle coming back." Malfoy put on a long-suffering sort of look. "If I had a knut for every time that little twit has predicted that something truly awful was going to happen over all of this and then nothing did, I'd be able to clog a Gringotts vault."


	19. Are You Sure You're a Slytherin?

Luke chuckled. "He does seem to enjoy doomsaying. So if they're not going to try to get Riddle back--for which I would be quite grateful, by the way--do you think I ought to be worried they'll try and kill me outright?"

Malfoy shrugged. "They might. You want my advice? Keep your head down, and if someone tries to make you a symbol--of anything--do everything you can to dissociate yourself from it. Being famous either gets you killed or makes you wind up like Potter."

"Or like you," Luke said.

Malfoy winced. "Or like me. If you end up in Azkaban, though, then you'll have managed to muck it up even worse than I did. And I really mucked it up."

"I think you mucked it up for everyone," Luke said bluntly. He looked down at his hands, curled together on the table. "I appreciate the advice, though. The problem is that I'm already pretty famous."

"You're infamous," Malfoy shot back. "That's worse for your reputation, but it's better for fading into obscurity. People who are famous for good things have a hard time hiding from the public eye, but..." he shrugged. "No one pays attention to me. You want another piece of advice?"

Luke nodded.

Malfoy's lips quirked up aty the corner. He did not have an easy smile. "Quit that tournament you're in. It's making you more famous."

Luke felt his reaction more than he thought about it. His hands clenched into fists and his eyes drew down into narrow lines.

Malfoy snorted. "That's what I thought. Maybe you ought to have been in Gryffindor. You're certainly stubborn enough."

+----+

Luke's date with Marissa, though truncated, went well. Somehow, he hadn't really doubted that it would. They got back the the castle exhausted and happy, and cheerfully ignored Teddy's lewd suggestions of what they had been doing (some of which were quite creative and gave Luke food for thought). 

There was a little under a week until Valentine's Day, and Marissa took it upon herself to cheer Luke up. In classes, she passed notes that ranged from the totally inane to very nearly saccharine, and she kept hinting that she had special plans for the holiday itself. 

When Valentine's finally came, Luke woke up and rolled over, and found a chocolate frog box on his bedside table. There was a bright pink paper heart spellotaped to it. He frowned. That wasn't exactly the way he had expected to wake up. As the other boys in the dormitory started making groggy noises, Luke grabbed the paper heart and read the note attached to it.

_Luke,  
I know this didn't turn out very well the last time we tried it, but I'd like to get our first Valentine's Day as a couple right.  
You know where to find me.  
~Marissa_

Luke grinned and opened up the chocolate frog box. It was full of mini Charleston Chews (Luke had no idea where she could have gotten them on such short notice, but he had to chuckle, since he had only mentioned enjoying them once or twice) and a chocolate frog card he didn't have yet. He tucked the card into his collection underneath the bed and got up to go and greet Marissa.

Marissa was waiting for him, already showered and looking quite chipper.

"Hi, Luke!" she exclaimed. 

Luke smiled. "Hi, Marissa. I got your Valentine. Where did you get Charleston Chews?"

She came over to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Owl-ordered them three weeks ago."

Luke rolled his eyes. "You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"

She nodded, and when he went off to shower and change, she patted him on the butt. 

By the time they got down to the Great Hall (there was a detour to second base), Luke was actually a little bit sorry that Professor Shelly hadn't gone Valentine's-happy like in his first year. He was actually enjoying getting the chance to redo that day.

Teddy's hair was pea-soup green. Luke grinned as he sat down next to his brother, and Marissa calmly took a seat on the opposite side of him from Teddy, who was watching Victoire a little sullenly as she talked with one of the Gryffindor boys. Gene ambled over and plopped himself down across the table from Luke, then silently followed Teddy's gaze and affected a surprised expression at who Teddy was watching. Finally, he turned back to Teddy.

"You'd be much happier if you'd grow a set and ask her out."

Teddy blushed and looked back down at his food, and so he missed Victoire leaving the boy she was talking to behind and coming over to sit down next to him. He looked up at her, a bit startled. 

"Morning, Victoire," Luke chirped at her.

Victoire laughed. "Good morning, Luke. You look happy!"

Luke leaned on Marissa. "Marissa's good at making me happy."

Marissa kissed his cheek and whispered into his ear "that was really sweet, but you're still not getting me into bed."

"That wasn't my goal," Luke said.

"So who was the boy?" Gene said.

Victoire looked over at the Gryffindor boy. "That's Jacob Milton. I'm working on a project for Professor Leiman with him. He's... really, really awful at Potions."

Teddy cheered up a bit, and Luke rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter, trying to get myself back into the characters.


	20. Russia did What?

The day wasn't perfect, of course. Heironymous Runel tended to avoid Luke on the fourteenth of February, which was just as well, but Lennox Finch-Fletchley seemed to have decided to seek him out. 

"Luke!" Finch-Fletchley called out to him on the way from Charms to Transfigurations. Marissa let out a little groan.

"Can't he just leave you alone?" she said plaintively.

"Of course not. That would be sensible." Luke turned around. "What do you want, Finch-Fletchley?"

Lennox winced a bit at the use of his surname, but he bulled on anyways. "I just wanted to say that it's good to see you're doing well today, given what you're usually like on Valentine's." He couldn't have come off any more pompous and self-important if he had tried. 

"Did you rehearse that with your speaking coach?" Luke said darkly before he could actually formulate an intelligent reply.

"Of course not," Lennox said.

"So you don't deny you've got a speaking coach," Luke said with a chuckle.

"All I want is to be your... friend." The hesitation in Lennox's reply wasn't lost on Luke, or, apparently, on Marissa.

"Please tell me you're not coming on to my boyfriend right in front of me," Marissa said.

A disgusted look crossed Lennox's face and he shook his head. "Of course not. I'd much rather come on to you, except that Luke would destroy me. It's just that 'friend' sounds better than 'ally' for this sort of thing, and--"

"This is still about your insane notion that you've got to be on the 'winning side,' isn't it?" Luke interrupted.

Lennox shrugged. 

"Because of Riddle," Luke prompted.

Lennox gave him a what-can-you-do smile.

"You know, Lennox," Luke said conversationally, "Sometimes it's all too easy to forget that beneath your cold, oily, aristocratic exterior, there beats the heart of a real wanker."  
Lennox's face as Luke built up the compliment and then dropped it into insult territory was pretty priceless.

+----+

They didn't meet up in the same corridor they had in first year. Instead, they found themselves in the swear-chair room, but Teddy had, in a typically Teddyish fashion, stolen a painting of a meadow in springtime from a wall somewhere and stuck it up inside the room, so they spent a good deal of time watching, in the distance, a horse in the process of making a perpetual escape from an unfortunate rider.

Luke leaned on Marissa, and Teddy and Gene played exploding snap. Victoire was working on an essay for Professor Gills, and Luke dashed off the occasional piece of advice about wandwork. All told, it was a very relaxing way to spend the afteroon. Soon enough, Teddy roped them all into a game of Scrabble and started holding forth on the subject of Rockhouse's fabled fifth tower. 

"The real problem," Teddy said, "is that either it keeps moving about, or it's totally underwater."

"The real problem," Luke corrected, "is that they've searched every corridor in Rockhouse four times and never found anything that leads off to a mysterious fifth tower."

"The entrance could be hidden," Teddy pointed out.

"And how would you find it if it was?" Luke said. It was a well-worn argument, but Teddy seemed to enjoy it, so Luke let him talk it out. It distracted him from the game (somewhat), so Luke was more likely to win.

"By working backwards," Teddy said. "I think if we could learn enough about muggle submarines--"

"If you could learn enough about muggle submarines, you'd crush yourself in a little tiny metal shell," Victoire said.

"You are the bloke who took half an hour to understand that the Electric Light Orchestra weren't 'light bulbs with talkers built in so they can sing,' after all," Luke said. Victoire started giggling, and Gene snorted and let his forehead hit the table as he laughed. 

"It's a dumb name," Teddy mumbled.

"But somehow you got right away that the Trans Siberian Orchestra aren't a bunch of musicians roaming about Northern Russia."

"But can you imagine?" Gene said when he had recovered from the laughing fit that followed that. He affected a thick Russian accent and, in a childish voice, said "Papa, what's that coming over the tundra?"

Luke immediately replied, in his best deep-voiced Russian accent, "That is the only reason we tolerate living in Siberia, son. Every Christmas, they come by, and we listen to them, because their amplifiers are the warmest thing around."

Gene snorted. "Amplifiers get warm?"

"Of course they do," Luke said. "They're electronics."

"You should see how warm the Xbox gets when we've been playing for a while," Teddy said cheerfully.

"The what?" Gene, Marissa, and Victoire all chimed at once.

Luke made a mental note to introduce his friends to video gaming.

While Teddy explained the concept to them, Luke snuggled up to Marissa and reflected on the day. It wasn't as though he hadn't thought about his various troubles, or his memories of his first Valentine's at Hogwarts, but he hadn't really got the opportunity to be genuinely depressed about it. Somewhere around the time that Teddy was explaining Halo's versus mode, Luke drifted off to sleep.

+----+

"No way!"

Luke looked up from his breakfast and cocked his head to the side. the abrupt exclamation had come from the general direction of most of the Hufflepuffs, and several of them were gathered around a newspaper. Luke shrugged and ignored it.

He hadn't slept well after he got back to the dormitories. Fortinbras had coughed up a hairball, and he'd had to clean it up, and naturally, Runel had complained incessantly, because Fortinbras had the good taste to do his hairball-coughing on Runel's bed. 

Luke grabbed a box of Weasley's Dragon Crunch and started trying to figure out if he should do fireballs or fire rings, but then Teddy plopped down in front of him. 

"Russia blew up this morning," he said as though he was pointing out that the house elves had made particularly excellent tea.

Luke stopped in mid-chew.

"It blew up?" Gene repeated.

Teddy made an explosion noise and gestured with his hands, sketching out an explosive discharge. He reached for the same box of cereal Luke had poured from. "Nobody got killed," Teddy said.

Luke swallowed, blew out a long stream of fire, and said, "Russia blew up, and everyone's okay?"

"There were a lot of people hurt," Teddy said.

"Was it... was it all of Russia?" Marissa said.

"No," Teddy said. "The asteroid hit some place called Chel... uh... something."

"ASTEROID!?" Luke shouted. Everyone nearby turned to look at him. "TEDDY, THAT IS INFORMATION YOU LEAD WITH!" There were little flames leaking out of the corners of Luke's mouth, but he ignored them. 

"I figured I ought to tell you nobody was killed first," Teddy said.

"An asteroid hit Russia and nobody died?" Luke said, still speaking in nearly-frantic tones. "I'm not going to look outside and find out that Hogwarts is magically protected from asteroid armageddons?"

Teddy pointed upwards. "Ceiling'd look different."

Luke looked up. The enchanted ceiling showed an achingly clear blue sky. 

"The Daily Prophet said it exploded in midair," Teddy added.

Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. "That rather changes things," he said, "since an asteroid can explode in the atmosphere and do a bloody lot less damage than one that hits, oh, say, the middle of Asia."

"Still," Gene said. "I bet Trelawney had no idea that was coming."

Luke's face fell. "She's going to start back up on astrology after this. I hate astrology."

"Bet she predicts four more by the end of the week," Marissa said.

Luke grimaced. "At least one of which will hit Hogwarts, and probably land directly on top of me," he said. "She's a barrel of laughs, that one."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup. I do, in fact, include world events from the time that these things take place.
> 
> If you're curious, look up the Chelyabinsk Meteor to see what exactly Luke is freaking out over.


	21. Roman Gods and Public Transport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I solemnly swear I am up to no good, and also to update this more often.

Trelawney was quite as taken with astrology as Luke had predicted, though she assured her students that, since the strike had come, there would certainly not be a new one anytime in the near future, and that certainly no one present would live long enough to see the next.

Less comforting was the way that Luke kept catching Mark giving him sidelong glances in Divinations. Given the other boy's repeated descents into uncontrolled prophecy during Trelawney's classes, the look of concern on Mark's face was deeply unsettling.

He almost went to ask Mark if he knew anything after class, but some measure of stubbornness prevented him and he shuffled along through his classes without speaking to Mark at all.

February dragged on uneventfully, despite the fact that everyone was constantly watching for news of Death Eaters or more cosmic impacts, and Luke found that the most fun he could get seemed to come from educating Teddy about the more obscure discoveries of Muggle astronomy. When he got to exoplanets, Teddy seemed liable to explode with awe. 

"They go 'round other stars!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I thought that was just made up for video games and movies!"

Victoire stared at him for a moment across the swear-chair room. She had Fortinbras in her lap, and was calming the cat after Teddy's outburst startled him. "You did?"

Teddy stopped short in the middle of his excited eclamation and blinked a couple of times at her tone. "Well... yeah, I did. I mean, it all seemed so... you know... I mean, there's only one Earth, and..."

Victoire rolled her eyes and passed Fortinbras off to Marissa. The cat slinked off of her lap onto Luke's and curled up. "Teddy, for a Ravenclaw, you can be pretty dumb sometimes."

Teddy blushed, darkened his skin tone to cover it, and shot back "it's not like those planets they show in movies are real!"

"Well, no," Luke said. "Aside from Vulcan."

Teddy's eyes widened for a brief moment and then he pursed his lips and glared at Luke. "I'm not falling for it," he said.

"I was close," Luke replied.

"What has the Roman god of fire got to do with planets that don't go 'round the sun?" Gene asked from behind his transfiguration textbook.

"I think they're talking about a thing on the telly," Marissa replied. "Star... er..."

"Trek," Luke supplied. "Star Trek, Marissa. I swear, you're all going to go to a movie marathon this summer."

"Can we watch The Untouchables?" Teddy exclaimed.

Luke blinked a couple of times, trying to remember what The Untouchables was about, and then rolled his eyes. "I don't see how watching a Muggle film about Capone will help you find a wizarding tower that doesn't exist."

+----+

"Teddy really is determined to find that tower," Marissa noted a few days later. Ostensibly, she and Luke were studying History of Magic in the library, but really, they were watching Teddy rifle through the bookshelves, questing after some obscure volume about large-scale tranfigurations. He was determined to get extra credit from Professor Orkney for explaining how Capone might have raised up his tower.

Teddy squeezed past behind Heironymous Runel. Runel cast an irritated look at him, and then again when Teddy let out a triumphant exclamation and pulled a tatty old volume from the shelf and hurried back to sit with Luke and Marissa. When he set down the book, a thick cloud of dust rose from it and he blew hard on the cover. A small bit of leather flaked off with the dust, and Teddy let out a squeak of dismay.

Luke tapped volume with his wand and shrugged as a little bit of the damage it had taken over the years repaired itself.

Before Luke or Marissa could engage him in conversation, Teddy was nose-deep in the book.

+----+

Luke tried again for a more normal date with Marissa on the next Hogsmeade weekend. They wound up playing spot-the-auror in the Three Broomsticks, and talking about the tournament. 

"Professor Shelly has us practicing against the fifth-years," Luke said glumly. "I'm holding up alright, but I think Teddy might go mental if she keeps it up much longer."

Marissa shrugged. "Well, you want to be able to beat Malik, don't you?"

Luke sighed. "I don't know if I can. I'm good, but Teddy is better than me, and I don't even know if he could beat Malik. You haven't seen the way that boy moves in a duel. It's amazing. Not a twitch out of place."

Marissa looked down at the table, her face heating up with embarrassment. "But you're familiar with him. More than anyone else at the tournament, probably."

Luke shook his head, reached out, and pulled Marissa up for a kiss. "Yeah, I'm more fmailiar with him than most of the people at the tournament, but that doesn't mean I know how to beat him. Marissa, you're not jealous, are you?"

"Maybe a little," she said.

Luke grimaced. "I've got a very disillusioned schoolboy crush on him. That's all. You..."

Marissa's eyes fixed on his face as he trailed off.

Luke swallowed. "I love you, Marissa." He looked off to the right, and he felt an intense blush heating his cheeks. "I know I've said that to a lot of people this year, and it probably doesn't seem like it means that much because of that, but--"

Marissa didn't let him finish. She cut off the rest of his words with a kiss. "I love you, too, Luke."

Luke gripped her hand across the table.

+----+

By the end of March, Teddy had dug up a copy of the book The Untouchables from somewhere. He was practically buried in it when Luke kissed Marissa goodbye in front of the school for the Easter Break return to Rockhouse.

"I'll miss you," she promised as the thestral-drawn carriage headed out towards Hogsmeade Station. There were only two carriages needed to get everyone who was still going to the station. Luke and Teddy were the only two from the same year that were both still in the running. Lennox Finch-Fletchley was in their carriage with them, as well as Professor Shelly, and the other carriage contained Libby Pennyshire and Gregory Cushman, along with the luggage. 

Luke drifted off not far out of the station, and Teddy woke up Luke about halfway to London, and they played Scrabble (Luke got absolutely destroyed). They met the Knight Bus as usual just outside of King's Cross, and this time, Luke didn't get mangled by the bus and its awful jostling at all. He was very proud of himself, especially when Lennox Finch-Fletchley turned out not to have chosen his seat so wisely and went careening past him to slam into poor Jimmy, who went over and nearly dragged Gerald out of his seat trying to keep from falling too hard. The Knight Bus swerved hard to the left, five entire houses leapt out of the way, and for a single, horrifying instant, Luke was certain they were going to tip over, then the bus jolt as the left wheels came back down, the engine made some horrific noise, everything stuttered back and forth a few times, and life continued on as though nothing had happened. Luke peeled his fingers one-by-one off of the arms of his chair.

"Well, don't want to repeat that experience," he said. "Just had my life flash in front of my eyes. Then there was a highlight reel for Tom Riddle."

Lennox Finch-Fletchley limped past to find another seat. Even Teddy looked a little pale after that brush with the Knight Bus.

"I agree," he said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I strongly suspect the Knight Bus is enchanted to be untippable. I also suspect it will one day tip over anyways.


	22. Quidditch as a Safer Alternative

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And back to this universe. I'm glad I'm able to slip into this slightly-different style without too much trouble. I'm going to basically shotgun my way through the rest of this fic, open up part 3 of With Apologies, let my Nano interrupt that for part 5 of this thing, then probably finish up With Apologies between one Nano and the next.
> 
> Then it'll be on to other endeavors. I may try to write something in the Star Wars universe, but if I do, I'll probably be looking at how to get in published, because, well... they publish stuff in there occasionally, and when I say "Write something in the Star Wars universe," what I mean is more like "write a thirty-book series covering nearly a century of events that I know in intimate detail."
> 
> I get ideas.

Luke spotted Malik across the deck of the Hawthorn not long after they had gotten onto the ship. The Greenlander was talking to Johannes, apparently discussing some dueling tactic or another. Luke looked down pointedly at the ground, but Malik must have spotted Teddy's bright yellow hair, because it wasn't long before he sat down near them.

"Luke," he said, "I have sent you letters."

"I didn't notice," Luke lied.

"It was not because I do not like you," Malik said.

"I know," Luke replied. "Look, I think maybe we should just be... you know, we shouldn't talk to each other." He kept his eyes firmly planted on Malik's shoes. "All my friends say it was a bad idea to get so involved with you."

"I did not want to hurt you," Malik offered. "But you are a boy. I do not like boys in that way. Only for friends and for sometimes in... as..."

"You'll hang out with him, and you'll fuck him, but Merlin forbid you should actually return his feelings," Teddy grated.

Luke watched as Malik's feet tensed up a bit. He could imagine--he could almost see--Malik tensing up as the impact of Teddy's words hit home. 

"Teddy, don't," Luke protested. "It's not like it's invalid. I mean... he was sort of a jerk about it, sometimes, but he's allowed to be bisexual without, you know, having feelings for boys."

"I thought you would be angry," Malik said.

"I am," Luke objected. "I just happen to be a little more... you know... mentally healthy than I used to be. Probably to do with Marissa."

"Marissa?" Malik asked.

"They're dating," Teddy supplied. "She's better-looking than you are."

"Don't be petty," Luke suggested. "And besides, she's not, really. She's just... more feminine. Which means you like her better."

"I'm not that shallow," Teddy shot back.

"Yes you are," Luke said. "Anyways. Malik."

"I will go," Malik said. "But you know I will not be easy with you if we meet in a duel?"

"I didn't think you would anyway."

Malik stood, but didn't move off right away. "I might have. I am sorry."

He walked off.

+----+

Without Malik around, Libby Pennyshire and Gregory Cushman were the best people to talk to at Rockhouse, which didn't suit Luke and Teddy at all. The first day at least provided some entertainment, since by that point the youngest duelists had been winnowed down to the inventive, the well-trained, and the lucky, a combination that made for some really excellent insanity that was actually pretty fun to watch. One of them went in with his robes slung over his shoulder, and levitated them in front of him while he walked forward to close his range and use spells that really shouldn't be helpful in a duel. Another seemed to get most of his ability from horribly-misused household spells that kept making his opponents finish the fights clean, but tremendously bruised.

It was fun to watch, but Luke missed his friends. He was a bit surprised when a notebook was slapped down in front of him at dinner.

He looked up. Malik had an apologetic look on his face. "I think we will not use it?"

Luke shook his head.

"I am not angry," Malik said. "If your friends still have it," he pointed his wand and the notebook started glowing, "this will make them look. I put a note inside to tell them you have it now. I hope you are eliminated before we duel each other."

Luke grimaced. Realistically, that was probably the kindest Malik was going to be about the tournament.

+----+

By the next morning, there was a reply in the notebook, from Marissa. Luke told her all about what had happened, but she was definitely in class, so he left a time when they could both talk scrawled at the bottom of the page.

Marissa had a better idea. Luke was in the middle of lunch when his knapsack let out a buzzing noise and he found the notebook vibrating and flashing different colors. He smirked at the likely-unintentional parallel with a cell phone as he cast countercharms. 

"You're not going to be his friend again, are you?" Marissa had written.

"Nope," Luke replied. "But I won't be horrible to him either."

"He was horrible to you," Marissa reasoned.

"Marissa?" Teddy asked.

Luke nodded. 

"Is Victoire there?"

"Are the others there?" Luke asked.

There was a pause, and in a different hand, "Victoire Weasley, at your service," appeared, followed by yet another hand drawing a little smiley face.

"Yup," Luke replied.

Teddy held out his hand. Luke handed over the notebook and his pen. "Go get her, tiger."

"Shut it," Teddy said.

+----+

It wasn't until the day before their turn in the tournament that Luke and Teddy got the chance to go and see top of the West Tower. From up there, the other three towers almost seemed small, until Luke remembered that he had been inside of them and found all of them to be confusingly massive. South Tower was about the same size as North, but a little narrower. From as far off as they were, East Tower looked positively insignificant, but it, like all three other towers was topped with grass. The grass on East Tower was untamed and wild, but there were small buildings on top of both north and South Towers. Naturally, Luke was prevented from looking down the relatively sheer side of West Tower by a guardrail. He was torn between praising the American wizarding community for thinking to put it in and questioning its value in a society that still allowed people to play high velocity competitive sports involving magically-animated murderous balls of iron at five hundred feet in the air.

It seemed a bit like putting on a helmet before jumping off of a skyscraper. A nice sentiment, but nowhere near enough.

He turned back to the sports fields. There was supposed to be an air-lacrosse game starting up any minute, and since there were no stands for air-lacrosse, possibly because of the risk of killing a spectator, Luke and Teddy just grabbed a spot on the large blanket Professor Shelly had set out on the ground. 

"Wait," Teddy said when the players came out. "They play on flying carpets?"

"Of course they do," Professor Shelly said. "You can't get proper leverage on a broom."

Each of the players was toting a rolled-up carpet and a lacrosse stick with a much wider net than the sort muggles used. Following them onto the field, the same one defined by the quidditch pitch's obvious boundaries, were several teachers, two of whom were lugging a box along with them, and one of whom was carrying a broom and a ball, and wearing quite a bit of padding.

"Aren't flying carpets a bit slow?" Teddy said.

"More maneuverable," Luke pointed out as the players spread out their carpets, shouldered their sticks, and rose into the air. None of the carpets was more than a meter long, and half that width. "And a lacrosse carpet has a mild sticking charm on it. Not enough to totally prevent an unseating, but... well, it's decent."

The teacher with the broom rose up into the air, tossed the ball, and made a headlong dive for the ground.

The two teachers with the box opened it up and dodged aside as six bludgers came flying out.

Then the danger started.

Since everyone had a stick, the six bludgers were more occasionally-malicious projectiles than wandering hazards, and once, Luke even saw one of the players catch one and ride it, grabbing up his carpet so it couldn't slow him down in his insane, slowly-descending rush towards the nearest opponent.

The whole mad game was full of loops, and spins, and rolls, and other maneuvers that were dangerous enough on a broom, but gained a whole new dimension of suicidalness when performed by someone who is standing up.

"You know," Luke said to a slightly-shellshocked Teddy when they were headed back inside, "I've got this theory that magic leads to insanity, but I think that proves that magic combined with being American leads to even worse insanity."

"I just wish flying carpets weren't illegal back home," Teddy said. "That game would blow quidditch completely out of the sky!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the sheer danger of air lacrosse. it's the sort of thing that makes you look at quidditch and go, "that seems reasonable."
> 
> That took some doing.


	23. Round Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was some intense writing.

Luke was more than a little relieved when he didn't wind up paired with Malik in the first duel of the day. As much as the number of particapants had shrunk, there were only a few pairs dueling in the gymnasium, and many of them had the same sort of clever, quick look about them. They tended towards the graceful, and their faces barely even betrayed who or what they were looking at, to say nothing of what their next move was likely to be. It was a bit like being in a room with a bunch of Violet Leimans, all of whom were perfectly prepared to start taking him apart at a moment's notice.

Some of the others were more the passionate duelist sort, obviously ready to swing into action more than to take him apart. Among that sort there seemed to be more room for the big and intimidating, rather than the somewhat more monotonous ranks of the clever and rangy.

Luke's opponent was a girl in, of all things, a long skirt. She had a somewhat sharp nose, and a high forehead, and a face framed by long hair. Strapped to her back was a short staff with a bulge at either end. Luke wasn't sure what he had expected a magic staff to look like, but somehow the simplicity of the staff's form rang unexpected in his head. He watched her as she pulled the staff out. The only exotic wand form Luke had ever seen was Professor Leiman's cane, so he didn't really know how the girl's staff would work for her. She held it under her arm with one end pointed at him, and they bowed deeply to each other.

Then the duel started. 

The girl yelled "Stupefy!" and Luke tossed up a shield, but before the spell had even reached him she was spinning the staff around and yelling again, and the two stunners were joined by a third before the second had hit his shield. The jolts of the spells hitting Luke's shield were startlingly fast, but he quickly realized that she wasn't going to penetrate his defenses any time soon. Casting as fast as she was was probably only possible with a staff, but there clearly wasn't much power behind it.  
Luke retreated a couple of steps, though he didn't, strictly speaking, need to, dropped his shield, rolled, and fired off a silent stunner. Her next twist of the staff put up a shield, with a yell of "Protego!"

Luke used the pause to coat the floor in oil beneath her feet, rolling to the side and throwing up another shield. On her next swing, the end of her staff smacked into the ground and she snapped "Scourgify!" The oil vanished, and Luke grinned, maintaining his shield and trying to think of a plan.

"You have to speak the spell," he muttered. "That's your disadvantage with that thing." Suddenly, Luke laughed, dropped his shield, pivoted to the side, pointed his wand at the floor, and yelled "Riddikulus!" 

A horn sounded, and a burst of confetti exploded in front of the girl. She stumbled back, startled, and Luke aimed his wand again. This time he cast silently, and suddenly she was wearing a Stetson, with a bandana across her eyes, and she seemed to lose her footing, most likely because he had made sure to picture her in cowboy boots. Instead of fighting to stay up as he had expected, though, she simply accepted going over backwards, pointing her staff as she fell and shouting "Rebondi!" to catch his stunner.

The spell hit the shield and came bouncing right back. Luke ducked, and looked up to find her on her feet already, the staff held in one hand, her other hand pulling away the blindfold as she ran towards him. She swung the staff, and Luke rushed backwards, fired off a stunner in desperation, and fell on his backside before the spell hit her. But it did hit her. She fell in a heap on top of Luke, and he grunted as he pushed her off. Her staff clattered to the side, and he looked around. His was the last duel to finish, and he was shaking a bit at how close it had been.

One of the judges came and revived his opponent. Luke held out his hand, and she looked at it for a moment, then smiled. "Most people are totally overwhelmed by the staff," she said. "I only switched to it today."

"It almost worked," Luke said. "I guess you wanted the speed?"

She nodded. "Yep. Too bad I got you."

"Where did you get the staff?" Luke asked as they headed for the waiting room for in between rounds.

"My parents took me on a trip to India," she said. She had a strange accent, and Luke couldn't really place it.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"Oregon," she said. "I think I was the last American in the whole competition."

Luke blinked. Apparently, he'd knocked an entire country out of the running.

They passed Teddy on the way in. Malik had been in the room with them, so Luke chatted to the girl about exotic wand types while he watched Teddy demolish his own opponent. There were only four pairs left dueling in the room. Luke suspected that Teddy's was the last easy duel anyone was likely to have. They put out the call again after half an hour,   
but this time, they called everyone.

Everyone wasn't a lot of people. As far as Luke could tell, of the eight people left, only he and Teddy were from the same country, let alone the same school. The judges pointed Teddy to a dueling space first, then his opponent, and down the line, until they put Luke in, and directly across from him, Malik.

Luke swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. Malik didn't even really show that he recognized Luke, although obviously he did. Luke hadn't gotten a look at Malik's dueling face yet, but this was obviously it. He decided he didn't want to be a professional duelist after all, not if it meant facing off with people like Malik for a living. 

Malik stepped bowed, and Luke bowed as well, and the duel started.

There was no shouting of spells. The only sounds in the room were the sounds of magic. Luke put up a shield, and Malik's first spell, some kind of stunner, splatted uselessly against it, with enough power to make Luke flinch back. He brought his hand around and let out the first shout of the round, a screamed "Amiki!" that let out a burst of thunder from his hand. The roaring sound impacted against Malik's chest, but he didn't make the mistake of trying to block it. Instead, he swept his wand at the floor, and a ribbon of rock reared up and lunged at Luke. Luke danced out of the way, but using a wandless spell had been what he needed to keep dueling. He exploded the rock and winced as shards of stone slashed through his trousers and cut up his leg. He backed away, dropping to run his wand along the floor, outlining his own ribbon, but only a straight form. Malik pelted him with stunners, and Luke ducked and weaved and finally pulled his chunk of rock out of the floor. He hit it with a spell and it transformed into a snake. Luke hissed "strike" to it and threw the thing at Malik.

Malik vanished the snake before it got to him, but, infuriatingly, Luke still hadn't even forced him to move yet. He followed his snake with a stunner, but Malik deflected it, advancing and whipping a lash of blue light at him.

Luke caught the spell with a shield, but it bounced off and came around again, driving him back. The line for an out-of-bounds loss was right behind Luke. He changed his shield up and on the fifth strike, Malik's lash frayed and tore apart as it hit his shield. Luke rushed forward, and he could feel his skin burning, turning red as the tattered remains of Malik's hex rushed over him.

Malik dropped the spell before Luke could get to his wand, and replaced it with a spray of water. Luke transfigured the water to steam.

Malik stepped back and Luke shielded purely on instinct. There was no visible spell, but Luke's shield broke, and his entire wand arm flopped down a bit. Malik whirled, and something flashed away from his wand. Luke felt an impact on his forehead, and something obscured his vision for a moment, and then Malik was right in front of him, with his wand pointed, and he spoke. 

"Stupefy."

Luke saw a flash of red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Malik is sort of an asskicking machine.


	24. Hurricane Teddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More hits of the eighties playing today. I like that album.

Luke woke up on a little bed off to the side of the waiting room. Teddy was sitting beside him, looking thunderous, his hair gone dark red and his features far harder than usual. 

"Mornin', Teddy," Luke grunted. His leg ached, his nose felt tight and painful, there was a sharp twinge in his right side, and any skin that wasn't normally covered by his clothes felt raw and tender. When he tried to move his right arm, it throbbed a warning pulse of pain at him. 

"Luke!" Teddy exclaimed.

"How bad did you get it?" Luke asked.

"I didn't," Teddy said. "I won my match. Luke, the healers said Malik hurt you pretty badly."

Luke grimaced and levered himself up with his left arm alone. "I'm fine, Teddy," he objected.

Teddy pursed his lips. "Don't say that until you find out what you fell on," he said.

Luke gave him a questioning look, and Teddy held up Luke's wand. Or rather, he held up what was left of it. A couple of hairs were all that still connected the two lengths of bamboo. Luke made a small noise of shock and disappointment. "Not again!" he exclaimed.

Teddy nodded. "I'm going to tear him apart when I get to him," Teddy muttered.

"Teddy, don't," Luke said.

"He hurt you!" Teddy exclaimed. "He hurt you twice!"

"He'd break you in half, though," Luke said. "You should just leave him alone."

"I can take him down if I really--"

"Teddy, I imagine you'll get your chance soon enough, but don't push it."

Teddy scowled and seemed very much as though he was going to get up and start pacing like a caged lion, but he didn't object anymore.

+----+

Luke's arm still wasn't working right on their last day at Rockhouse. They were in one of the underwater observation rooms in South Tower. Teddy was hitting the window with striking hexes, watching the way it took the spell and frowning. Lennox Finch-Fletchley was in the corner, talking dueling strategy with Professor Shelly. He'd been knocked out in the sixth round, just like Luke. Gregory Cushman was out, too, and Libby Pennyshire had only just managed to stay in; she was recovering in the Rockhouse infirmary with a massive bruise on the side of her head. Luke couldn't write with his right hand, so he was using wandless magic to write in the notebook with Marissa instead. Teddy had taken a turn with Victoire earlier, but she had carefully obliterated everything they had written before Luke took his turn with Marissa. There was a large amount of scribbled-out text on several of the pages. 

"Luke?"

Luke looked up. Malik was standing in the doorway. All the Hogwarts students turned to stare at him. 

"What do you want?" Teddy snapped, growing a couple of inches. His hair and eyes shifted to deep black.

"Luke, I want to talk alone to you," Malik said quietly.

Luke said goodbye to Marissa, promised to talk to her on the plane, and closed the notebook.

"Luke, you're not--"

"I'm going, Teddy," Luke interrupted.

"But," Teddy began, and Luke cut him off with a wave of his hand. 

He followed Malik into the empty corridor outside the observation room and leaned against the wall with the notebook tucked under his good arm, tapping his foot as he stared levelly at Malik.

"Ah," Malik said, and then he seemed to rally, cleared his throat, and said, "I am sorry." When Luke didn't reply, Malik bulled on. "I did not want to make you cry. I care about you."

Luke kept up the death-glare. It was one of the better skills he'd inherited from Voldemort.

"I did not want to be your... your..."

"Boyfriend," Luke supplied. "You didn't want to be my boyfriend."

Malik looked down at the floor, then back up at Luke. "Karen says that I should not have started having sex with you. She says that I was being a... a..."

"Hunhund-licking klootzak?" Luke suggested.

Malik winced. Apparently he'd either deduced Luke's meaning from context or encountered Dutch obscenities before. "Yes," he said.

"If you want, I will try--"

"Too late," Luke said. "I know it's not likely, but I really hope Teddy wipes the floor with you."

"Too late?" Malik said.

"Marissa and I are dating," Luke explained. "And I wouldn't date someone who wasn't sure about it anyway." He shrugged. "For a chance at you, I might have broken that rule, before... but you..." Luke turned on his heel and walked back into the observation room without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy am I tired. I'm gonna take a nap.


	25. Giving the Merfolk a Headache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoy writing Joy Dallas. She's probably the most fun I've had with a character yet.

"You again?"

Luke smiled at Joy Dallas. She looked about thirty today, which he thought was a neat trick. 

"I broke my wand dueling," Luke said. 

After the plane ride back to England, Professor Shelly had sent the others off to go back to Hogwarts under the expert care of Professor Leiman, and had dragged him to Diagon Alley to get his wand replaced.

"Told you to get a staff," Joy admonished, ambling closer to him. "I hope I'm not going to be seeing you again."

"Actually, I dueled someone with a staff. They're fast, but not enough power for me. I'll stick with a regular wand, please."

Joy shrugged. "Suit yourself." She picked up a box from a row on the counter behind her. "I hear you've got a girlfriend now."

Luke nodded, pulling a dark-colored wand from the box. "Marissa," he said, waving the wand. The counter was abruptly covered in water. Joy turned, hmmed and hummed for a moment, and picked up another box seemingly at random.

"She another Slytherin?" Joy asked as Luke drew out a rather plain-looking wand.

Luke waved the wand. A single blue spark shot from the end of it. "Yeah," Luke said.

"Hm," Joy said. She plucked the wand from Luke's fingers. "We can do better than that," she said. She reached for a box, shook her head, strode across the shop to a shelf, and drew down a different box. She tossed it to Luke. "Didn't you have a different someone special before that? A boy?"

"Gene," Luke said. He pulled out the wand from in the box. "We're still friends," he added, inspecting the wand. About a quarter of the way up, the wood was burned and blackened all around the wand. The wand felt right. When Luke swung it, blue-green sparks cascaded down from the end of the wand.

"That's the one," Joy said. "Cherry and dragon heartstring, thirteen and one quarter inches, slightly bendy, with a phoenix-fire burn as a sealer."

Luke grinned. "You just can't resist the little extra touches, can you?"

"Of course not," Joy said with a smile.

+----+

Teddy had at least five books spread out in front of him. It might have been six, but Luke could only see one of them out of the corner of his eye if it was six. Which meant that it was probably six, really.

"He's up one from yesterday," Gene said, pulling Fortinbras (again) away from Teddy's spread of textbooks and self-help books and one very thick novel.

"Hush," Teddy suggested, leafing back through one of the books to an earlier chapter.

"It's true, though," Luke said. "Unless you've got six. Have you got six?"

"Seven" Teddy said. "One of them's not open."

"He's up three from yesterday," Luke said sagely. 

Marissa took Fortinbras from Gene and cuddled up to Luke's side. "I thought he only had three yesterday."

"He got a fourth after you left," Luke said.

It had been three weeks since they got back to Hogwarts. Teddy had split the time between practicing his dueling and some obscure research that, as far as Luke could tell, mostly had to do with wards and lighting spells. He had no idea what Teddy was up to, but there were times when it was better to just let him follow whatever course he was on.  
Victoire was idly carving a new swear word into one of the chairs when Teddy exclaimed "Right!"

Victoire jumped and let out the swear she'd been etching into the chair.

"Luke," Teddy said, "You've got a window in your dormitory? Looks out into the lake?"

"That's the fifth years," Luke said. "Why do you... no."

"Thanks!" Teddy said. He jumped up and hurried out of the room.

Luke sighed. "He's about to do something mad," he said. "Come on, Marissa, we'd better go stop him."

"Can I watch?" Gene asked.

A minute later, they were all heading down to the Slytherin common room. Luke spotted one of the fifth years up ahead, and he hurried to catch up.

"Teddy," he began.

"Not listening, Luke," Teddy interrupted. "I've got to try this."

"You are going to flood the Slytherin dormitories."

"Good, that'll make Runel and Finch-Fletchley both miserable."

"Teddy!" Luke exclaimed, "Marissa and I live there too!"

"I guess I'll have to be careful then."

"I'm not letting you in," Luke said.

"Okay," Teddy replied. He turned the corner to the wall that led into Slytherin, and without pausing, in almost conversational tones, he said "soak."

The entrance to the Slytherin common room slid open. Luke followed Teddy in, swearing softly. Marissa followed Luke, then Gene and Victoire.

"Oi, Restimen!" Runel yelled. "Get your little friends out of Slytherin!"

"Stuff it, Runel," Luke shot back halfheartedly. Fortinbras was trying to squirm out of Marissa's arms. Luke cast a bubble-head charm on the cat, then one on Marissa, one on Gene, on Victoire, on himself, and with a sigh as Teddy opened the door to the fifth year boys' dormitory, on Teddy.

"Is that Lupin?" someone said incredulously.

The fifth year Teddy was imitating was lounging in the dormitory on his own bed. Luke shot him an apologetic look.

"Restimen, what's going on?" the other boy said, casting a bubble-head charm on himself. Teddy dropped the ruse and pointed his wand at the window.

"Restimen?" the fifth-year tried nervously. "Uh... Lupin?"

"Detritus lucen," Teddy cast. The window started glowing. "Dux resonata," Teddy added, and the light on the window began to ripple and project out like a solid sculpture of waves. "Ictus!" Teddy exclaimed. The window rang quietly with a sudden impact. Luke flinched back, but the window held. Everyone was silent.

Abruptly, the lights on the window began to change. "Tardus autimaginem," Teddy snapped, and the image froze. Luke stared. Teddy had created a hologram of the echoes from the lake. He didn't quite know whether to strangle him or hug him. Of course, it was just a random collection of ripples and waves for the moment. The rest of the Slytherins were in the door, with bubble-head charms on, staring transfixed at what Teddy had created. Teddy took a deep breath. "Etsimalucrum resonata!" He cried.

Slowly, the lights extended out from the window, and began growing all out of proportion. Teddy waved his wand. "Reducio!" he snapped. The expansion of the lights stopped, and there, in front of Teddy, was a three-dimensional sonar image of the lake.

"What?" Lennox Finch-Fletchley said quietly.

Teddy stared quietly at his accomplishment. The detail was impressive. The mermish village was a collection of little structures in a bowl, beds of lakeweed were fuzzy, blurry places, a few fish and merfolk were frozen in midwater, and the giant squid hovered over the mermish village like some strange bird.

"Well, I'm impressed," Luke admitted.

Teddy nodded, waved his wand, and there were several disappointed noises as the fifth years watched their impromptu decoration vanish.

"What was that?" Runel shouted as Teddy walked out.

"Sonar," Luke said. "Muggle invention. Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"But that was magic!" Runel objected.

"That was science, mate," Luke said. "Do I have to give you another napalm speech?"

Marissa snorted back a laugh.

+----+

Over the next couple of weeks, Teddy created multiple sonar images, just to perfect the technique. It was such a hodgepodge of brand-new spells that Luke was a little surprised it worked at all, much less with the heavily-enchanted glass that was needed to survive the striking hex. It was also an impressive bit of spell creation. Professor Shelly caught wind of it and asked Teddy to demonstrate, which ultimately ended with her, most of the Ravenclaws, Professor Orkney, Professor Leiman, Hagrid, the League, and Professor Flitwick all watching from shore as Teddy and Luke took a boat into the middle of the lake with an enchanted sheet of glass and brought back the--and Luke couldn't quite get over how cool it was that the term was valid--hologram attached to the glass. 

Professor Flitwick declared that it was wonderful and spent the entire day with Teddy getting small images of the entire lakebed, then compositing them into a single big hologram, which he charmed to follow him up to his office.

The next day was a Hogsmeade visit. Luke went with Marissa, and they popped into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. 

Ron was working the counter.

"Hello, Ron," Luke said.

Ron perked up. "Oh. Hello, Luke! You know, James has been chattering about you nonstop since Christmas."

Luke blinked, trying to remember who James was for a moment before he recalled Harry Potter's son. "I bet that just delights Harry," Luke chuckled.

"I think James does it to get up Harry's nose."

Luke grinned. "I'll have to include a note in Teddy's next letter to him," Luke said. "How are sales? Where's George?"

Ron grimaced. "George is... er... visiting Fred."

Luke flinched a bit. The second had been a couple of days earlier, and it was easy for Luke to forget that for a lot of people, his birthday was the day--the exact day, in fact--that many of their loved ones had died.

"Erm," Ron said, "Sales are good, though. I heard you lost out in the last round of that tournament. Are you still going along for the last rounds to cheer on Teddy?"

"Of course," Luke said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love what Teddy did with those spells. It's just so _Ravenclaw!_


	26. Let's Say Rude Things To Runel Again!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a very short chapter to remind you all that I'm still here. You won't get rid of me that easily, Dr. Epoch!
> 
> Er... I mean, I am only Drakey, mild-mannered fanfic writer, and have no idea who that costumed adventurer might have been.

Ron favored Luke with a big grin. "That's the spirit!"

"Mostly, I need to keep him out of trouble," Luke pointed out.

Ron's grin only got bigger. "A Ravenclaw that likes our shop as much as Teddy does? Of course you need to keep him out of trouble."

Luke and Marissa headed out of the shop and kept wandering around Hogsmeade, but after a while, they found themselves in the Three Broomsticks as usual. Marissa sat at their table and fiddled with the menu as though every Hogwarts student didn't have it memorized by the middle of third year.

"Is something wrong, Marissa?" Luke asked after a few silent minutes.

She blew out a sigh. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Hog's Head tonight."

Luke stared for a moment. Marissa being Marissa, she probably wasn't suggesting a drink, and besides, Luke had made sure that September Jurgensen knew as well as Aberforth Dumbledore had to not give him any alcohol. 

Still...

"You don't mean for... you know, for drinking, do you?"

"Well," Marissa said, turning bright red, "I mean that September is supposed to rent out the rooms just like Aberforth did, and..."

Luke leaned across the table and kissed her. "How long has this been on your mind?" She started to reply, and Luke interrupted with "besides 'all night,' which is easy enough to deduce."

Marissa turned even redder. "A couple of weeks, maybe? I... I've never..."

Luke started reaching across the table to her, but just then Madam Rosmerta arrived to take their orders. When she had gone, Marissa had faded from tomato-red to a sort of almost-normal color. 

"Marissa, you don't have to tell me that you've never done it. It's not as though I don't know. I've been your friend since you were eleven. I'd have known if you had ever done it." He prodded his chicken with his fork. "If you really think you're ready, then we can, but I love you, and I don't want you to regret the first time. I was sort of hoping we'd just be overcome by a moment while I've got a welly to hand."

Marissa had been in the middle of sipping at her fruit punch and barely managed not to spit it, her hand snapping up to cover her mouth as she laughed. "Well, that's a bit crass," she managed after a while.

Luke shrugged. "Crass or not, it's true. I just don't particularly like it when it's all... planned. I want to be spontaneous."

Marissa gave him a sardonic little smile. "You mean you want to be dragged into a classroom by six foot of chocolate sex for the buggering of a lifetime?"

"That is one of many scenarios that count as spontaneous, yes," Luke answered. "And I'll let Gene know you called him six foot of chocolate sex. He'll be both flattered and sort of vaguely offended, I'm sure."

The silence that followed was at least not uncomfortable. Finally, Marissa filled it with "I'm fairly sure I am ready. I mean, as sure as I can be."

Luke caught up her hand. "We'll go to the Hog's Head, then. But if you change your mind, you have to speak up."

+----+

"Well, Restimen, you're in a bit late." Runel smirked across his charms essay as Luke and Marissa came in. "Been having a bit of the old--"

Luke drew his wand. "Given that you're not an annoyingly sexy Greenlander, you'd be well-advised to shut it."

Runel clamped his mouth shut automatically, and Luke grinned. "I love being able to do that," he whispered to Marissa.

Marissa kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to bed right away. Thank you, love."

Luke pulled her in for a kiss on the lips. "I'd say anytime, but that might seem a bit self-serving."

He watched her head to her dormitory, then sat down sort of generally near Runel, and while the few other people still awake an in the common room watched, Luke stretched, yawned theatrically, and said, "You know, Runel, I imagine you wouldn't mock others for getting laid if you ever got to introduce anyone besides yourself to your John Thomas."


	27. Doctor Oldwing, Windbag at Large

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should be a little meatier and more satisfying than the last one. We're really coming up on the end of the story here.

"So, Luke."

Luke froze in the middle of putting away his potions textbooks. They'd broken out the Anarchist's Cookbook again for the last few lessons, and Professor Leiman had been quite happy to have them put cyanide into all sorts of potions, then bring them back to usability.

"I'll see you in Herbology," Marissa said, kissing him on the cheek.

Luke shrugged and finished putting away his things. "What's going on, Professor Leiman?"

"I hear you and Marissa have been--"

"Yes," Luke said. "We have. And we're being safe about it."

Professor Leiman sighed. "I suppose that's the most I can ask for." He started spelling the fourth year lesson materials away and bringing out the ones for the second years. 

Luke grinned, remembering the first lesson, in which they had mixed gunpowder, from his second year. "So how many of the second years blew themselves up this year?"

Professor Leiman chuckled at that. "All but one. I believe she's a friend of yours. Victoire Weasley."

Luke blinked. "Really? She never mentioned it."

"She wouldn't," Professor Leiman said. "The child of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour? I imagine she pretends to boast more than she actually boasts."

Luke nodded. "She's got a monster crush on Teddy," he said.

"I've noticed," Professor Leiman said. "I certainly won't be surprised when they get married."

"Or when they kill each other after Teddy does something completely stupid," Luke added.

"Certainly not surprising, either. Shelly tells me you're going with Teddy and Libby to support them at the tournament. I suppose that's your right, after all, you got as far as you did."

"If you're asking whether I'm going to be tempted at all by Malik," Luke said, "the answer is no. I'm fairly sure even if I wanted to talk to him, Teddy would incinerate him with his brain."

"Usually it's my granddaughter that does that," Professor Leiman said. Luke chuckled. Violet Leiman was a firestarter, and had had some rather dramatic problems with the ability a couple of years earlier.

"Honestly, Professor, Malik and I both acted like idiots, and I think we just want to forget each other."

Professor Leiman shrugged. "Well, I wish I could go along with you, anyway. Make sure to cheer loud enough that they can hear you in all four towers."

"All five," Luke corrected with a laugh. "Don't forget about Al Capone."

+----+

Marissa's goodbye when Luke headed out to the Hogwarts Express for the last trip to Rockhouse was quite passionate. The fact that it was early morning and she was therefore in her pajamas was really just icing on the cake. Teddy would have teased Luke about it, but Victoire had shown up to see him off, and so he seemed to have taken the better part of valor and done his best to prevent any and all teasing.

Luke, in return, didn't tease him.

The only one who seemed even remotely comfortable in the blistering heat of Texas was Professor Shelly, and even she moved quickly between air-conditioned spaces. Luke had never been happier about the Fort Worth Underground being, well, underground. Like all caves, the temperature was almost perfectly consistent. He tried not to think about that, since having so much activity in the huge cavern should have heated it up to almost unbearable levels all year round. He just assumed magic was involved and prepared to be relieved by the transition to Rockhouse.

He wasn't relieved. It went from being hot to being horrifically humid. 

"It's like swimming through tomato soup," Teddy said as they headed to the pier. The Hawthorn was already docked, and the few people who were left in the tournament came aboard, along with their audiences. It was easy to spot Malik. Luke managed to not-so-subtly steer the whole group away from him, and they all sat down and talked tactics with Professor Shelly. There was the customary meal, and then Doctor Oldwing stood up in front of the whole assembled group.

"Welcome, my friends, to the final round of the International Academic Dueling Competition! It has been our supreme pleasure to host you all, and I look forward to seeing the best of the best dueling here. Over the last academic year, we have been privileged, honored, and often humbled, to have played host to so brilliant a group as this.

"Anyone who has made it this far in the tournament should hold themselves with pride. If I don't miss my guess, there are only thirty-two of you left, though of course, many of you have others with you who have supported you throughout the competition, perhaps fellow competitors from your school who proudly watched as you surpassed their expectations. To the spectators who have returned to cheer on their friends and family, I say bravo. It takes a village to do a great many things, and one of those things is to win a contest such as this.

"I could go on for hours, but I will cut myself short here. I wish you all tremendous luck. May the best witch or wizard win!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Oldwing is a perfectly nice, very pleasant guy. I just happen to write him a little sleazy. This was a deliberate choice on my part, but every time he makes a longwinded speech like this, I regret the decision just a little more.


	28. Sonar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teddy has kinda stolen the show at this point. I love writing him, and will probably use this version of Teddy in any other worlds I write him in.

"Okay," Teddy said as a whole slew of Rockhouse students watched him. "I'm about to solve your mystery once and for all."

Matthew, the student who had first told them about the legend of Al Capone's fifth tower, was leaning aganst the wall, giving Teddy a get-on-with-it look. Teddy flourished his wand. The lights in the observation room closest to the base of South Tower shut off. Luke was a little surprised to see that there was a faint glow from the window, rippling gently like waves. And then Teddy started casting. By then, he was well-practiced with the spells.

"Detritus lucen, dux resonata," Teddy cast confidently, and the dim glow from the window was outshone by a much brighter light that began to stretch out incomprehesibly in front of it.

"Ictus!" Teddy shouted, and everyone in the room flinched, except Luke, who had seen it before.

It took a lot longer than it ever had at Hogwarts, but the lights began to change. "Tardus autimaginem! Etsimalucrum resonata!" Teddy recited with practiced ease, directing his sonar image to the middle of the room and holding it there. 

North, West, and East towers were clearly visible, jutting proudly from the lakebed. Details that were totally invisible in the permanent murk of the lakebed stood out in three stark dimensions on Teddy's map. A few sunken boats, an entire school of fish, it was all there, but nowhere was there a fifth tower. 

"I knew it wasn't in the middle o the others!" Teddy cried, walking through his image. "Come on, there's more angles to check!"

Professor Shelly grinned indulgently at Teddy as he hurried out. "Totally confident, isn't he?" she said to Luke.

"Of course he is," Libby Pennyshire said. "You've met the boy, right?"

"She's right, Professor Shelly," Luke said. "Teddy's always right. You do remember that, don't you?"

The little crowd followed Teddy, and Matthew hung back to talk to Luke. "He's really taken this thing to heart, hasn't he?"

Luke shrugged. "He's Harry Potter's godson. Probably just wants to be impressive."

"Really?" Matthew said. "You know, Harry Potter gave a speech at the Salem Witches' Institute a few years ago. I got to attend. It was pretty good."

Luke shrugged. "I'm not exactly a Harry Potter fan. I'm sure you've heard about what he did to me."

Matthew nodded. "Yeah. So if you don't like him, why do you hang out with his godson?"

"I met Teddy before I met Harry Potter. Or, well, before I knew Harry Potter was his godfather. No, wait... yeah, it was before I met Harry Potter. Teddy and I got to be great friends, and then Potter started being... you know... Potter."

Matthew shrugged and moved forward to talk with a girl Luke suspected wasn't even giving him the time of day. Teddy repeated his spells in the next room, but with the same general results. It was a brilliant demonstration of magic, but by the time he had done every one of the lower level observation rooms, most of the crowd following him had dispersed. Teddy, undaunted, started climbing up the tower, hitting the observation rooms in an ascending spiral. Luke tagged along, wishing his brother would catch just a glimpse of the tower, and knowing better anyway. In the last room, Teddy sat down and sighed, staring at his distinctly towerless image of the lake. It went out as far as his technique could push the image, fading into fuzzy indistinction at the edge, and the biggest thing coming off the lakebed was a structure no bigger than a little hut and too deep to reach without a high-tech submarine.

"I was so sure," Teddy lamented. "But it's just not there."

Luke sighed and sat down on a couch next to him, watching the waves just barely above their perch. "It was a really good try," Luke said comfortingly. "I mean, a really, really, really good try. That was some of the best work I've ever seen, and I was there for," he glanced at Professor Shelly inspecting Teddy's sonar picture and lowered his voice to a whisper, "the howlers."

Teddy sighed. "I know. I was just hoping..."

"I guess Al Capone just didn't leave a fifth tower here."

"These spells are still brilliant work, Teddy," Professor Shelly noted. "And they're beautiful."

"But they just proved me wrong," Teddy complained.

+----+

If the seventh round of the tournament was any indication, Teddy had channeled being proved wrong into a great deal of anger. He was matched up against a girl in a tracksuit, and he kept pelting her with spells until, finally, she just couldn't keep blocking and dodging, and she took a stunner directly to the face. When Teddy came back in, he had something of an out-for-blood look on his face. He sat down next to Luke, and they watched as Malik ruined his own opponent. He was using the blue lash spell again, and the other boy had no more defense for it than Luke had. It could be torn apart well enough with the right kind of shield, but obviously not well enough to keep it from hurting.

Malik kept his opponent on the defensive, casting too fast for Luke to really track what he was doing the whole time, and soon, it was over.

"Spirit cats," Teddy said.

"How are you going to do that?" Luke asked as Malik came back in.

"I'll think of something," Teddy replied. He eyed Malik as the other boy walked in, obviously looking for some sign--any sign--of weakness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor kid just can't find that tower :(


	29. Teddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter... was fun to write, and probably the best duel I've written so far.

They squared off, staring each other down. The referee had them make their formal bows, and the two combatants hoisted their wands warily. Teddy made an abortive half-charge forward, but Malik held his ground without flinching, and as Teddy moved backward, a spell erupted from the Greenlander's wand, a wash of bright pink light that Teddy barely managed to block with a shield charm. 

Malik swung his wand in a wide arc, and Teddy's shield was battered again, this time by a shower of glowing shards, like ice lit from within by the harshest, whitest light possible. The assault kept up through Malik's next attack, a simple barrage of stunners, but Teddy's shield was clearly faltering.

Watching from the little audience room, Luke winced. He had taken more risks against Malik, and it seemed as though that had been the right strategy. Doing nothing but defending, Teddy was being worn down quickly and brutally. 

"Oh, this isn't good," Professor Shelly said.

"I'd go so far as to say this is bad," Luke replied.

In the dueling room, Teddy finally dropped his shield. He rolled, and the shards of glowing ice slashed through the back of his shirt, leaving little trails of blood, but vanishing as they touched his skin. He yelled in obvious pain as he came fully around, but he didn't falter, just popped up, wand at the ready, its point aimed directly at Malik's face.

Malik was already moving, and his hand caught Teddy's wrist, sweeping it out to the side. Teddy reached up to strike at Malik's side. Malik accepted the blow and leaned forward, bowing Teddy back.

"I've never seen a duel devolve into a brawl before," Luke said.

"One of the ones in my group did last time," Libby Pennyshire said as Teddy grappled with Malik. "It wasn't this good, though."

Teddy had his other hand engaged with Malik's wand-arm, and they were glaring at each other as each of the boys tried to twist his wand into aiming at the other. Malik nearly got his wand around, but Teddy threw himself to the side, knocking it out of aim.

Malik used the sudden shift in balance to drag Teddy to the floor, and they slid together for a few feet, but Teddy finally managed to disengage, log-rolling down the dueling floor. Malik shot to his feet and fired off two stunners, but Teddy evaded them.

Malik's arm cocked back, and he sent it forward again. The lash of blue light once again escaped his wand, but Teddy wasn't prepared for it. He came around to facing Malik just in time to throw his left hand up in front of his face. The blue light wrapped around his hand.

Luke gasped in sympathy, and Professor Shelly hissed next to him. Teddy screamed, the skin on his wrist burning.

"Surrender," Professor Shelly said, cringing. "Forfeit, dammit."

Teddy doubled over suddenly, and Malik's finishing stunner sailed over his head. The next one hit a shield charm, but Malik's lash of magic stayed connected, bisected though it must have been by the shield.

Blister rose on Teddy's wrist, and Luke gritted his teeth watching the duel, but Teddy wasn't done, whatever Professor Shelly might want him to do.

He twisted his hand around and gripped the light of the lash. Malik's eyes went wide, and he moved his wand, firing off other spells through the light of his magical whip, but Teddy blocked them with his shield.

The attacks Malik was able to push through the lash couldn't have been very powerful. He seemed to realize that as well, because they ceased, and abruptly, Teddy aimed his wand at the whip of energy. A look of concern crossed his face.

Malik yelled, loud enough to be heard clearly by everyone watching, "Finite! Finite!"

Teddy chanted continuously, pointing his wand at the lash around his wrist, "Durata, durata, durata, durata, durata." His wand tracked the movements of his hand as he began to reel Malik in. Twice, Malik switched back to trying to stun Teddy, but Teddy blocked or dodged every one, and soon, he had Malik within arm's reach, then even closer, and finally, his hand took up the last of the magical lash and wrapped around the end of Malik's wand.

"Stupefy!" Malik shouted.

Teddy wrenched his whole arm, and there was a terrific bang. He and Malik were both thrown back away from the center of the room, both nearly into an out-of-bounds disqualification. Teddy's arm hung limp at his side, but so did Malik's.

Teddy raised up his wand, and something slipped from the fingers of his other hand to the floor as he stood. 

Across the room from Teddy, Malik picked up something similar that had dropped from his own hand, and even as Luke recognized it as half of a wand, Teddy's stunner caught Malik square in the chest.

Teddy sat down hard on the floor. His left arm looked completely ravaged, and there was blood pouring freely down his back.

But he had won.

The referee revived Malik, and then helped Teddy up and carted him off to get treated for his injuries. Malik, wandless, followed dejectedly after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept for Teddy's final gambit, reeling Malik in with that unstoppable lash of his, came to me this morning and I couldn't not write it. Teddy deliberately sacrificed his own well-being to win that duel, and his left hand will likely be useless for a couple of months, possibly into the beginning of the next book.
> 
> The spell he was using on the magic, "durata," is something I came up with on my own (as much of the magic in this series is). It wouldn't be something that shows up very often, but it's essentially the counterspell to "finite." He learned it when Professor Flitwick was having him bring his sonar images of the lake into Hogwarts: it was used to make them permanent instead of letting them fade over time.


	30. The Fifth Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the final chapter of part 4. Part 5 will be starting in November!

Teddy passed by too quickly for Luke to get a good look at his injuries, though he knew they had to be awful. He rushed to follow Teddy, but Professor Shelly held him back.

"They'll take care of him, don't worry."

"But Professor," Luke protested, "He's family!"

"And that's very sweet, but it won't help them to take care of him. Go sit down."

Luke found a chair, but he pouted the whole way. Malik started towards him after a few seconds. Luke scowled, but the other boy was undeterred. 

"Luke," Malik began.

"You hurt my brother."

Malik winced. "He would not allow me to turn off the spell," he protested.

"Not that," Luke said. "The shards-of-light thing. That looked lethal."

"It is not," Malik said. "It would take many hits to vital spots to kill. It only hurts and makes a lot of blood. It even creates blood. I use it to make people shocked into doing stupid things."

"Like grabbing your spell?"

"I did not expect him to do that," Malik objected.

"I guess now you know what to watch out for," Luke replied smugly.

+----+

When Luke found Teddy in the Rockhouse infirmary a couple of hours later, his arm was completely wrapped in bandages. It looked as though he was wearing a thick white mitten all the way up to his shoulder, or perhaps a plush cast. The appearance of a cast was helped along by a brace of some sort that held his arm immobile.

Despite the obviously-uncomfortable gear he was stuck in, Teddy was beaming happily at anyone who got close to him, his hair happily bright green. Luke was reminded of a Norman Rockwell painting he had seen once, of a young girl with a black eye grinning while she awaited whatever punishment she was about to receive for fighting.

"Hey," Luke called out, coming to sit next to Teddy. 

"I won." Teddy all but crowed the words.

"You snapped his wand," Luke added cheerily.

"I didn't know I'd snapped it. His stunner numbed my hand. I thought that was just what happens when you take a stunner from a wand that's touching your hand, but I guess that's what a wand snapping while it casts a stunner does." Teddy shrugged. "Anyway, he snapped your wand, so I guess that's only fair."

"How long are you going to be a bandage monster?" Luke asked, gesturing at Teddy's arm.

"They're saying months," Teddy said with a grimace. "Good job it wasn't my Teddy-time arm."

Luke made a face. "Did you really just share that awful image with me?"

"I thought you'd want to know your favorite nephew was looking on the bright side."

Luke smacked him on the back of the head.

+----+

The championship trophy was absolutely mammoth. It had been awarded in a ceremony that was far more pomp and circumstance than an interscholastic competition merited, even an international one, and in deference to Teddy's injured arm, Luke had helped him lift it for photographs. It had then been packed into a box and shipped to England ahead of them. There was one championship trophy for every age group, but Luke thought the one Teddy had earned was just a little shinier than the others. It wouldn't have surprised him, really. Teddy had turned his injury into pity and attention from girls, kitchen staff, and the Rockhouse teacher who had showed them where the kitchen staff could be found. Luke was mildly surprised that Teddy came back to their room every night, instead of spending one or two nights alone with some girl. Having his championship trophy just a bit more polished than the others wouldn't have been too strange, under the circumstances.

"I still have no idea where I'm going to put it," Teddy complained as the lot of them loaded onto the Hawthorn. Doctor Oldwing was personally shaking the hand of every departing visitor. He had already gotten to Professor Shelly.

"Well, I could duel you for it." Luke suggested. "Then you could pass the dilemma on to me."

"Ha ha, very funny," Teddy said.

Luke spread his hands out in front of him, framing an invisible scene. "Just picture it, sitting on top of my dresser. It would fit right in, especially if I was in the room. Just reflecting my greatness."

"No," Teddy said.

Doctor Oldwing stretched his hand out to Luke. "We were very glad to host you, Mister Restimen-Tonks."

Luke winced a bit at hearing the clunky sound of his full legal surname. There was a reason he stuck with just Restimen. But he shook Doctor Oldwing's hand just the same. "It was wonderful to see your school Doctor Oldwing," he said truthfully.

The line moved up, and Doctor Oldwing greeted Teddy. "Congratulations on your victory, Mister Lupin."

Teddy smiled brightly, thanked Doctor Oldwing graciously (because Professor Shelly was watching and would brook no hijinks), and everyone shuffled onto the big wooden ship together. 

Luke and Teddy found a seat and set to chatting, and before they knew it, they were underway. Gradually, Teddy drifted off, and Luke looked out the window, watching the waves rolling by. It was foggy, tendrils of vapor rising off of the water, a little like being lost inside a cloud. A flicker of motion caught the very limit of Luke's vision, and he peered into the fog.

All at once, it seemed to roll out of the misty emptiness of the lake, and Luke elbowed Teddy, gently at first and then with growing urgency. 

"Wha..." Teddy said.

"Tell me I'm not hallucinating," Luke said.

Teddy peered out the window with him. A few people were leaning over to look out windows, but Luke only saw them out of the corners of his eyes as Teddy crowded in to share the window. The distant face of some rocky spire was already starting to fade into the fog, but not before Teddy had the chance to spy its shape.

"The fifth tower," Teddy muttered as the fog-shrouded colossus vanished into the mist. "Why aren't they turning around to look at it?"

"Turn off course? In this fog?" someone nearby said incredulously. "We'd never get to the dock!"

"But it was Al Capone's tower!" Teddy cried.

"It was just some island," someone else argued.

Luke sat back. Whatever anyone said, Teddy was pretty much guaranteed to believe it was Al Capone's tower. Luke was inclined to believe him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost added a scene at the end with their homecoming. There's a part of me that wants to tack it on in a separate story or something, but I think I'll keep it away. Teddy is still going to be dealing with this injury come the start of part 5. He got his arm pretty monumentally fucked up in that duel.

**Author's Note:**

> So... this is the one book in the series where i had absolutely jack shit for story when i was coming up with the idea. Originally, i just jammed some filler in here where they tried to do the Triwizard Tournament again, only Beauxbatons was hosting. That has slowly morphed into this over time, and here we are. 
> 
> Dueling offers more opportunity for genuinely entertaining scenes, gives Luke some experience he'll desperately need come books five through seven, and gives me an excellent excuse to play around with my version of Wizarding America, which is a fantastically messed-up place. Fort Worth, Texas, is going to be especially fun to write, and Rockhouse is sorta mind-blowingly cool. Also, I'm gonna jam a bunch of wizards onto an airplane, and that will be hilarious.


End file.
